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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28499430">The Time That Time Fell</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/AntiSocialMedia/pseuds/AntiSocialMedia'>AntiSocialMedia</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Kirby (Video Games)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Adeleine is a child, All of the star allies are here, Bandana is either straight or bi take your pick, D3 and Meta are gay, DMS and Gooey are non-binary, DMS is aro-ace, Dark Meta is gay, Daroach is gay, F/F, F/M, Flamberge is ace, Flamberge is straight, Francisca is a lesbian, Galacta Knight is non-binary, Gooey is aro-ace, Idk about Coo, Idk about Kine, Idk about Ribbon, Idk about Rick, Kirby is panromantic and asexual, M/M, Magolor is bi, Marx is pan, Morpho Knight is non-binary, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Prince Fluff is asexual and demiromantic, Sexuality time:, Susie is a lesbian, Taranza is a king, Taranza is straight, Time Travel, Zan is bi</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-04-21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 17:46:43</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>39,915</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28499430</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/AntiSocialMedia/pseuds/AntiSocialMedia</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Time is shattering, people are jumping from time to time, all during different events in history, can the Star Allies figure out who's causing all this?</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Dark Meta Knight/Daroach, Francisca/Susie | Susanna Patrya Haltmann, King Dedede/Meta Knight, Prince Fluff/Kirby (Kirby), Taranza/Zan Partizanne (Kirby)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>88</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>AntiSocial's/DoC's Awful Kirby Fanfictions</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Broken Clock</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>EDIT: Hey, Anti here, just wanted to let any new readers know that the 40,000~ word count is mostly all comprised in chapters 7, 8, and 9, the rest are about 1500-3000 words.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Today was an odd day.</p><p> </p><p>Today was a very odd day.</p><p> </p><p>Why was today an odd day?</p><p> </p><p>Probably because there’s no food in Dreamland, or at least, on the surface that’s why, but Kirby is confused on why all of the food is missing a THIRD time? Yes, 29 years ago King Dedede, also known as Masked Dedede, His Royal Nemesis, or “Faker” (That last one was given by Marx, the hypocrisy is staggering), the second time was 2 years ago, when the Jamba hearts corrupted King Dedede and possessed him. Again. For about the 50th time.</p><p> </p><p><em> *We should hire an exorcist* </em> Kirby thought, running towards Castle Dedede * <em> But why would Dedede steal all the food? Dark Matter possession? No, Gooey would’ve told us, Jamba Hearts? No Hyness is dead and the Mages have redeemed themselves. </em> * Yes, after Hyness tried to take over, the mages were all found in near-shambles, luckily they were helped, thanks to some of the… <b>nicer</b> Star Allies. Namely Taranza, Gooey, and surprisingly Susie helped bring the mages to… average social standing, and the mages were later accepted into the Star Allies. As a matter of fact, Francisca and Zan were so grateful that they unintentionally fell in love, unlike Flamberge, who’s comfort zone is bouncing Gooey around like a basketball.</p><p> </p><p>However, Kirby doesn’t really have the time to think about the mages (other than the fact that Susie proposed to Francisca last week). As Castle Dedede was oddly… quiet, normally Flamberge’s loud breaking of plates was there to distract people when Marx told a bad joke, but no one’s here… odd.</p><p> </p><p>*<em> Y’know, maybe I’m overthinking this </em> * Kirby thought to himself, the narrator clarifies this as if Kirby can talk * <em> maybe it’s some new guy this time around, even if it’s not Dedede, at least I have a new ally to help- aaaand there’s the food </em> * Kirby deadpanned to himself, the narrator redundantly clarifies once again, * <em> and there’s King Dedede… staring at it? Why isn’t he…? </em>*</p><p> </p><p>“Oh! Kirby!” King Dedede joyously exclaimed, “Thank Nova a friendly face is here, I have no idea what’s going on!”</p><p> </p><p>“Poyo?” Kirby confusedly asked, pointing his nub at the giant pile of food behind the king.</p><p> </p><p>“Hm? Oh, the food?” King Dedede asked, realizing the suspiciousness of the situation, “Oh, I don’t know where that came from.”</p><p> </p><p>“Poyo,” Kirby deadpanned.</p><p> </p><p>“Hey, hey! This has happened before, like the time you beat me up because you thought I stole the Star Rod!” Dedede dededefended “although, admittedly, I understand how suspicious this looks”</p><p> </p><p>“Poyo.”</p><p> </p><p>“THE FOUNTAIN LOOKED COLD! I’M A PENGUIN! IT WAS COMFORTABLE! IT’S NOT MY FAULT THE LIQUID FORM OF DREAMS FEELS AMAZING!” King Dedede exclaimed, “Anyway, do you know where Bandana is? He could probably help,”</p><p> </p><p>“Poyo?”</p><p> </p><p>“Yeah, I’ve been trying to find him and Flamberge all morning and I’ve come up with nothing,” Dedede said, shrugging, “Maybe we could-”</p><p> </p><p>Kirby blinked and… King Dedede was gone and it was nighttime! It was still light outside when he got to the castle-</p><p> </p><p>It was at this moment Kirby realized he was no longer in Castle Dedede, he was in a place filled with machinery, and different gizmos, and-</p><p> </p><p>“PINKY!”</p><p> </p><p>Kirby jumped at the sound of a mechanical voice yelling at him, turning around, it was the one and only Susie Haltmann, owner of the Haltmann Works Com-</p><p> </p><p>Wait why does her name tag say “Secretary”?</p><p> </p><p>“Thank god you’re here, everything is wrong! So I woke up this morning and the company was in space, not a big deal, maybe someone just started to drive us to another planet, right?”</p><p> </p><p>“Poyo.”</p><p> </p><p>“Right, but then I couldn’t find Francisca, or my engagement ring, so I got worried, but then I noticed I wasn’t in my room, I was in the Secretary bedroom! ALSO MY FATHER IS ALIVE!”</p><p> </p><p>“POYO!?!?”</p><p> </p><p>“I KNOW! And then I realized we were over Popstar! I have no idea what’s going on, but more importantly whERE IS MY WIFE!?!”</p><p> </p><p>“If you’re done screaming about Francisca I have a few comments to add,” said a mysterious voice from above. “Because I, too, have been having some odd mishaps.” Jumping down from the rafters, the voice was revealed to be none other than Meta Knight.</p><p> </p><p>“Oh, Meta, you’ve had problems as well? What kind?” Susie inquired.</p><p> </p><p>“Well, I fell asleep at Castle Dedede last night, and then I woke up on the Halberd, I was talking to Vul about what might have happened, as he claims none of the Meta-Knights brought me home,” the strangely slightly spanish savior spelled out.</p><p> </p><p>*<em> Wait, did he REALLY name his teammates after himself? Dear Nova, I thought Magolor had an ego </em>* Susie thought to herself.</p><p> </p><p>“And then I was here, being dragged to-” Meta paused, glanced at Susie, then Kirby, then back to Susie.</p><p> </p><p>“Oh, I see”</p><p> </p><p>“Poyo” Kirby muttered sadly.</p><p> </p><p>“I have an idea on what might be happening, it’s a bit of a stretch but I think someone’s playing with ti-” Meta Knight was cut off when the world flashed white, and suddenly Kirby was in front of Marx, while in space.</p><p> </p><p>“POYO!?!?”</p><p> </p><p>“KIRBY!?!?” Marx screamed, “WHAT IS GOING ON! WHY AM I IN SPACE? WHY WAS I BACK IN THE TRUE ARENA A FEW MINUTES AGO? IS THIS KARMA? I JUST WANTED TO MAKE DARK META KNIGHT CRY!”</p><p> </p><p>*<em> Don’t we all </em>* Kirby thought, and then another flash, and he, once again, was in a different place, specifically, standing face to face with Francisca, with Marx, the Animal trio, and Gooey right behind him.</p><p> </p><p>“Well, at least I’m not in space anymore” Marx commented.</p><p> </p><p>“Does anyone know why we’re being teleported around?” Rick asked.</p><p> </p><p>“Poyo!”</p><p> </p><p>“We know you’re trying but we really can’t understand you Kirby,” Coo snarkily added.</p><p> </p><p>“Okay, but does anyone know-” Francisca  started before being cut off by another flash, causing all of the Star Allies to be teleported to the Lor Starcutter, in which all of the Star Allies (minus Dark Meta Knight) were present.</p><p> </p><p>“GOT IT” Magolor yelled.</p><p> </p><p>“Huh?” Taranza questioned, “What happened?”</p><p> </p><p>“Time had been breaking for the past hour or so, thankfully, the Lor and everything inside can’t be teleported around like that,” Magolor explained.</p><p> </p><p>“Huh, that’s awfully convenient and nonsensical, almost as if someone just wanted an excuse to have us all together because they’re lazy,” Marx said.</p><p> </p><p>“...What?” Kine asked</p><p> </p><p>“Nothing.”</p><p> </p><p>“...ANYWAY, I’ve been doing calculations and I learned something,” Magolor said, pressing a button on the Lor’s main panel. “This isn’t just something acting up, or the universe hiccuping, this is an intentional break caused by someone,”</p><p> </p><p>“Okay, that makes sense, but why would someone wanna break time? That seems like it would only do more harm than good,” Daroach asked</p><p> </p><p>“Maybe they’re just trying to mess with people? I mean, let’s be honest, we definitely know some people who would do that,” Zan Partizanne suggested.</p><p> </p><p>“Just say my name,” Marx replied, offended.</p><p> </p><p>“Maybe they’re trying to undo an event of some sort?” Adeline addelined. “Like, they’re trying to fix a break-up or something like that.”</p><p> </p><p>“That’s stupid, why would you ever break time over something so trivial?” Meta Knight countered.</p><p> </p><p>“M-maybe they’re planning something?” Taranza added, wiping a tear from his eye. “Like, they’re planning to take over and wanted to split us up?”</p><p> </p><p>“..Taranza are you okay? You look like you’re about to fall to the floor crying,” Susie asked, concerned. </p><p> </p><p>I’m fi-” Taranza started before being grabbed by Zan and pulled close to her face.</p><p> </p><p>“<b>Who hurt you?</b>” </p><p> </p><p>“N-n-no one! I’m fine, really, I’ve just not had a good day, nothing to worry about, really,” Taranza assured. Zan begrudgingly let the royal spider go, but not before giving him a quick kiss.</p><p> </p><p>“So if the lovebugs will calm down, Taranza probably is the closest to the truth,” Magolor explained, “things like this don’t happen everyday-”</p><p> </p><p>“Are you sure? Because it definitely FEELS like the world is falling apart every day,” Daroach joked.</p><p> </p><p>“Well- I- I mean I know you’re right but shush” Magolor stammered, “what I’m saying is we need to find out who’s doing this, before they get whatever they’re gunning for.”</p><p> </p><p>“...Magolor?” Bandana asked.</p><p> </p><p>“Yes?”</p><p> </p><p>“What time are we currently in?”</p><p> </p><p>“Last week, why?”</p><p> </p><p>“Dark Meta Knight has been in the mirror for a month.”</p><p> </p><p>“Oh….”</p><p> </p><p>“So.... can’t you just change outside to when Kirby was split into four?”</p><p> </p><p>“Heh, well, no, I used up nearly all of the Lor’s power when I manually changed time to last week, we’re lucky we’re still floating.”</p><p> </p><p>“So, what do we do? We kinda need Dark Meta to complete the group,” Daroach asked.</p><p> </p><p>“...Wait for the time outside to change into when Dark Meta was out of the mirror?” Susie suggested.</p><p> </p><p>“That’s pretty much the only choice,” Magolor responded, everyone else groaned, nobody was happy with this, not because they didn’t want to sleep in the Lor, no, the Lor was fine.</p><p> </p><p>It’s that they’d have to sleep near Marx.</p><p> </p><p>Nova help their souls.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. All Together</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>After a long few days of waiting for Dark Meta Knight, the Star Allies think they've figured out everything they need to know, unbeknownst to them, one of them is returning to their old roots...</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Fun Fact: Despite only being around for about 2 weeks, this fanfic has more hits and kudos then my other one, which has been out for a few months, (although maybe that's because I actually took the time to write a 2nd chapter for this one :\ )</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Dark, honey, if you don’t get in here very soon we’re just going to let you deal with the time jumps on your own while we fix it,” Daroach said in a fake-happy tone.</p><p> </p><p>“Fine, but keep me away from Susie, I think she watches me while I sleep,” Dark Meta Knight growled. After nearly 3 days time finally jumped to when Dark Meta Knight first left the mirror, and thankfully, Dark came out of the mirror when time jumped.</p><p> </p><p>“That’s nothing, Marx sleeps with his eyes open, watching me,” Magolor complained, shuddering.</p><p> </p><p>“Do I sleep with my eyes open? Or was I just watching you, pretending that I was asleep?” Marx asked with a sick smile.</p><p> </p><p>“Well I assume no one wants to actively be awake when Magolor starts snoring, so I’m going to assume you were asleep,” Bandana joked.</p><p> </p><p>“<em> Or maybe I just like the sound- </em>”</p><p> </p><p>“Marx, please stop being a cosmic horror for two seconds, you’re scaring Gooey,” Adeline asked, pointing to the amorphous blob who was hiding in the corner.</p><p> </p><p>“Wait, Gooey has a sense of self-preservation?” King Dedede asked, “that’s a first, I once saw him eat a gordo whole, wasn’t he out for a week after that?”</p><p> </p><p>“Gordo’s hurt, cake doesn’t, cake is good, I like cake,” Gooey said, suddenly hungry, “I want cake, do friends have cake?”</p><p> </p><p>“No, Gooey,” Susie groaned, having dealt with this for far too long, *<em> Their train of thought is a circle </em>*.</p><p> </p><p>“What’s all of the commotion abo- oh, it’s <em> you </em>” Meta Knight growled, walking into the hull of the ship.</p><p> </p><p>“I’m not happy to be here either, so <b>watch it</b>,” Dark Meta retaliated.</p><p> </p><p>“Kids, kids, you can continue this discussion when the world isn’t falling apart,” Magolor said, dismissively. “Right now we have more important matters to attend to, these last few days haven’t been worthless free time.”</p><p> </p><p>“Marx has been making the same rat-based puns for three days, Magolor,” Daroach reminded, honestly, Doc said ‘Rats’ after messing up an invention one time and suddenly Marx has a new way to torture people? Remarkable.</p><p> </p><p>“Quiet, Daroach, what I mean me and Susie have been working on tracking down the source of these rifts in time, Susie, care to explain?”</p><p> </p><p>“It’s funny how you act as if you did any of the major lifting and didn’t just scheme new ways to trick Waddle Dees into giving you Gem Apples, anyway-” Susie was cut off.</p><p> </p><p>“I’M SORRY, what do you mean <b>I</b> was slacking off!?!? You only did the math I didn’t feel like doing! YOU WERE MAKING OUT WITH FRANCISCA HALF THE TIME!” Magolor yelled.</p><p> </p><p>“Big words for the egg who got beaten by a Waddle Dee with a spear,”</p><p> </p><p>“I’m sorry, what’s that supposed to mean Susie?” Bandana Dee questioned with false-joy, “Was that pathetic excuse for an insult meant to go after me? The 2nd place champion of the Megaton Punch Championship? SECONDED ONLY TO KIRBY HIMSELF?”</p><p> </p><p>“...Y’know what? Forget I said anything,” Susie apologized.</p><p> </p><p>"̶C̶o̶w̶a̶r̶d̶"̶ ̶M̶a̶g̶o̶l̶o̶r̶ ̶i̶n̶s̶u̶l̶t̶e̶d̶.̶</p><p> </p><p>“Anyway, me and the cat figured out that whatever’s causing this is likely using a relic left over by the halcandrans-”</p><p> </p><p>“Ah, so Magolor’s entire race is summed up by broken languages and bad decisions?” Meta Knight joked.</p><p> </p><p>“Hey!” Magolor responded, offended, causing everyone to shoot a knowing glance at the Halcandran in the room. “... okay fine maybe there’s a little truth to it but still!”</p><p> </p><p>“So if the backstabber would back off, I could tell you all about a special little artifact called-” Susie started, pressing a button on the Lor’s main panel, revealing a blue orb with a hourglass symbol on the side. “This is the Time Breaker.”</p><p> </p><p>“My favorite part about the Halcandrans is just the fact that they are just <b>amazing</b> at subtlety, y’know?” King Dedede commented.</p><p> </p><p>“That’s just my joke but worse,” Meta Knight huffed.</p><p> </p><p>“We get it, you two are essentially an old married couple now <b>STOP INTERRUPTING ME!</b>” Susie yelled at her rather annoying cohorts. “...THANK you, the Time Breaker has two interesting abilities, the first is the ability to rewind time to certain eras, with everyone maintaining their memories.”</p><p> </p><p>“So that’s what’s causing time to break?” Ribbon asked.</p><p> </p><p>“Essentially, yes, however there’s another, interesting ability of the Time Breaker, the ability to take things from points in time,” Susie explained.</p><p> </p><p>“I’ll take over now,” Magolor started, “the Time Breaker can allow you to go back and take things from different time periods, and it could either be living or non-living, it’s purely up to the user.”</p><p> </p><p>“Is there a size or power limit? Like could they just ‘yoink’ an entire planet from a different time period?” Marx asked.</p><p> </p><p>“...Sort of? It’s complicated, any Halcandran artifact can be transported no matter what, however, any other items have a size limit, but not a power limit, for instance, you can’t steal, say, Castle Dedede, but you COULD steal the Star Rod,” Magolor explained.</p><p> </p><p>“Apparently it was made just in case they ever lost their tools,” Susie added.</p><p> </p><p>“So, why does this matter? I mean, is there anything important that they could really take?” Dark Meta Knight questioned.</p><p> </p><p>“Yes, actually, as I said before; the Star Rod, also the Dimension Mirror, Miracle Fruit, The Lor, any of Susie’s tech, Meta’s sword, the list goes on really,” Magolor listed.</p><p> </p><p>“I’m confused, does it take those things from time? Like if they went back and stole the Dimension Mirror Dark Meta would’ve never split Kirby?” Daroach asked.</p><p> </p><p>“No, the Time Breaker will send you to a different timeline of sorts, in which all of your choices affect the outcome of that world, like if you went back and stole the Miracle Fruit Taranza used to help Kirby kill Queen Sect-oooooooooooh I should not have said that,” Magolor said, seeing Taranza start to tear up.</p><p> </p><p>“Well now look what you’ve done Mags! As a member of the Taranza Protection Squad this cannot stand!” Daroach exclaimed, whacking Magolor with his cane.</p><p> </p><p>“I’m sorry, the WHAT?” Susie asked.</p><p> </p><p>“The Taranza Protection Squad,” Zan explained, “comprised of me, Daroach, Taranza, and King Dedede.”</p><p> </p><p>“We beat up anyone who makes Spider-Boy cry,” Dedede stated.</p><p> </p><p>“I did not ask for this, don’t really need it, and have repeatedly asked them to stop,” Taranza added, wiping his tears from his eye, causing Zan to shoot Magolor a death glare.</p><p> </p><p>“OKAY, better example: like if you went back and stole the Master Crown from me before I put it on, suddenly it butterfly-effects into me never becoming a SOUL boss,” Magolor explained, diffusing the situation.</p><p> </p><p>“Let me tell you, if I had the chance to go back and make it where I never got trapped in that godforsaken arena, I would,” Marx added.</p><p> </p><p>“Agreed, it’s very cold, you can’t control your own actions, and you wanna cry,” Magolor said.</p><p> </p><p>“So let me get this straight, whoever’s doing this is probably gonna go back and steal the Star Rod or something?” Flamberge asked.</p><p> </p><p>“Most likely something along those lines, but that’s not the only thing we learned! We also know where to look!” Magolor happily exclaimed.</p><p> </p><p>“Poyo!”</p><p> </p><p>“Yes! It is great! We tracked a large amount of magical input and output in Floralia,” Magolor explained, causing everyone to look at Taranza.</p><p> </p><p>“...what?”</p><p> </p><p>“Did you not know about this?” Coo asked.</p><p> </p><p>“Yes, as I’ve known that someone was breaking time in my kingdom and made the conscious decision to not tell all of you,” Taranza said sarcastically.</p><p> </p><p>“Really?” Adeleine asked.</p><p> </p><p>“<b>NO!</b> Who do you take me for!? Marx!?” Taranza growled.</p><p> </p><p>“Okay, geez, no need to get angry,” Adeleine complained.</p><p> </p><p>“Yeah, wow, that was new,” Rick said.</p><p> </p><p>“It’s just-” *sigh* “I have a lot on my mind right now,” Taranza explained. Zan proceeded to whisper something in Taranza’s ear that caused him to smile, how quaint.</p><p> </p><p>“Anyway, I have no clue who this could be, does anyone know anyone who would break time?” Susie asked.</p><p> </p><p>“Marx,” Daroach, Adeleine, Ribbon, Dark Meta Knight, and Magolor all said at once.</p><p> </p><p>“Oh ha ha, very funny,” Marx grimaced.</p><p> </p><p>“Yeah it’s about as funny as your awful rat puns,” Daroach argued.</p><p> </p><p>“Ignoring the children, how about Galacta Knight?” Meta Knight suggested.</p><p> </p><p>“Why them?” Dark Meta Knight asked.</p><p> </p><p>“Think about it, they hold on to their pride so severely, to the point where I fully expect them to break time to try to tip events in their favor,” Meta explained, “for example, they could try to undo the many, many losses vs me, and are getting an unfair advantage to win, also there are the events in Galacta’s past that we don’t know about they could be trying to undo.”</p><p> </p><p>“Huh, I guess that settles it, Galacta’s our guy, we leave for Floralia in the morning,” Susie decided.</p><p> </p><p>*<em> Thank you Meta, you make this so much easier, all I have to do is stall for time, and they’ll get the precious time they deserve, simple as that. </em>*</p><p> </p><p>…</p><p> </p><p>*<em> Poor Galacta Knight though, poor hero didn’t do anything wrong this time. </em>*</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Reunions and ruin</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Allan please add details</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Hey Magolor?”</p><p> </p><p>“Yes Bandana?”</p><p> </p><p>“Why isn’t time breaking that much anymore?” Bandana asked. Yes, for some peculiar reason time had decided ‘Okay that’s enough for now thank you’ and stopped...</p><p> </p><p>And then the world proceeded to flash white.</p><p> </p><p>“Gee, thanks Bandana, you just HAD to say it didn’t you?” Flamberge sarcastically asked.</p><p> </p><p>“It’s fine, I made a device that will keep anyone in a 25 meter radius,” Susie said nonchalantly as she was carrying a sleeping Francisca bridal-style through the trek.</p><p> </p><p>“...is it like in your pocket or something?” Kine asked.</p><p> </p><p>“No. It’s the device floating above all of you that you have neglected to notice,” Susie explained. This caused everyone to look up and notice that there was a device floating above them.</p><p> </p><p>“Well how about that,” Rick commented.</p><p> </p><p>“Well, gee, thanks Susie, I’ll take a good look at it as soon as I’m <b>actually able to look up</b>,” Kine growled.</p><p> </p><p>“Oh, right sorry,” Susie apologized.</p><p> </p><p>“Hey guys, where’s Gooey?” King Dedede asked, causing everyone to look around for the happy blob of Dark Matter.</p><p> </p><p>“I don’t see him anywhere,” Ribbon said.</p><p> </p><p>“Me neither,” Magolor added.</p><p> </p><p>“Oh Nova, did he really get lost in time?” Dark Meta asked, facepalming, or… maskpalming I guess?</p><p> </p><p>“What’s all the noise,” Gooey asked, rolling towards the other allies.</p><p> </p><p>“Oh, there you are Gooey, we thought you got lost,” said Meta Knight, relieved.</p><p> </p><p>“Why’d you wander off?” Coo asked.</p><p> </p><p>“I found a friend.”</p><p> </p><p>“...a what?”</p><p> </p><p>“A friend, they gave me headpats,” Gooey said, sounding absolutely overjoyed, “they’re over there.” Gooey said, gesturing to the east with their tongue.</p><p> </p><p>“Oh dear.”</p><p> </p><p>“I’m scared.”</p><p> </p><p>“Marx where are you going?”</p><p> </p><p>“Hell, but that’s beside the problem, WHO DID GOOEY MEET?” Marx yelled. Soon after yelling that, Marx decided to take a good look at who Gooey found and physically recoiled.</p><p> </p><p>“Marx, who did Gooey find?” King Dedede asked.</p><p> </p><p>“Yeah… D3? You mind <b>not</b> coming over here?” Marx worriedly asked.</p><p> </p><p>“...Well now I just want to go over there even more,” King Dedede said, beginning to walk to the hill Marx looked behind to see a very familiar face.</p><p> </p><p>“...Hello <b>Dark Matter</b>,” King Dedede spat out, glaring at the sword-wielding villain.</p><p> </p><p>“H̷e̸l̸l̸o̵ ̸D̸e̵d̸e̶d̷e̵,” Dark Matter responded, clearly not caring, “h̵o̵w̵ ̷h̷a̷s̴ ̶y̵o̸u̷r̷ ̶s̸o̸u̴l̸ ̴b̷e̴e̷n̶?̴ ̶A̶n̷y̶ ̶p̶o̸s̴s̷e̴s̶s̵i̷o̴n̵s̴ ̴r̷e̶c̸e̶n̴t̸l̵y̷?̸”</p><p> </p><p>“Cut the small talk, why are you here?” Dedede responded.</p><p> </p><p>“S̷i̷m̸p̸l̶e̶ ̸r̷e̷a̸l̵l̵y̵,̵ ̴I̴ ̷w̵a̶n̷t̸ ̸t̴o̵ ̵h̷e̷l̸p̷ ̶y̶o̵u̶.̷”</p><p> </p><p>It was at this moment that Dedede burst out laughing.</p><p> </p><p>“W̶h̷a̶t̴?̵ ̸I̶ ̵d̷o̵n̸'̸t̸ ̸s̸e̸e̷ ̶w̶h̷y̸ ̶t̸h̴a̸t̸'̶s̴ ̶s̷o̶ ̴f̶u̶n̷n̴y̷?̷”</p><p> </p><p>“It’s funny because why would we <b> <em>EVER</em> </b> let you help us? After possessing me what feels like <b>HUNDREDS</b> of times, why would we ever let you help us?!?”</p><p> </p><p>“B̶e̸c̴a̸u̷s̵e̶ ̵l̶a̷s̴t̵ ̶t̷i̴m̷e̴ ̴I̷ ̶c̵h̴e̶c̴k̷e̷d̸,̵ ̴y̵o̵u̵ ̵a̶n̸d̷ ̸y̴o̵u̵r̵ ̵b̸a̸n̶d̸ ̵o̸f̷ ̷m̴e̴r̷r̶y̸ ̵m̶i̶s̴f̷i̴t̶s̴ ̸a̸r̴e̴n̷'̵t̵ ̴i̵m̸m̸u̷n̸e̷ ̵t̸o̶ ̶t̵h̵e̵ ̴e̶f̴f̸e̵c̸t̴s̶ ̴o̶f̵ ̴t̵h̷e̶ ̴T̵i̵m̵e̴ ̴B̸r̵e̷a̸k̷e̶r̵.̷”</p><p> </p><p>“...What,” Dedede deadpanned.</p><p> </p><p>“I’m sorry you’re WHAT!?” Magolor yelled, overhearing Dark Matter.</p><p> </p><p>“Y̸e̶s̶,̶ ̵y̵o̶u̷ ̶a̷b̵s̵o̶l̸u̸t̴e̴ ̶b̴u̸f̶f̸o̶o̵n̷,̶ ̵I̸'̵m̵ ̸c̵o̸m̸p̷l̷e̴t̴e̶l̸y̴ ̸i̷m̷m̷u̸n̴e̷”</p><p> </p><p>“Wait, if you’re immune, why isn’t Gooey? They’re Dark Matter as well,” Meta Knight asked.</p><p> </p><p>“G̴o̸o̵e̵y̸ ̵i̵s̶,̴ ̷w̷e̵l̶l̸,̸ ̵d̴e̵f̴e̸c̶t̴i̵v̵e̷,̷ ̸i̸n̴ ̷f̵a̴c̶t̸ ̸I̵'̶m̷ ̶m̸u̵c̸h̸ ̴m̷o̶r̷e̵ ̶i̵n̷t̷e̷r̵e̵s̷t̶e̴d̷ ̶i̶n̶ ̴h̶o̶w̵ ̶G̷o̶o̵e̷y̶ ̵h̸a̶s̷ ̶b̶e̸e̵n̷ ̶h̴a̸n̴d̷l̷i̵n̵g̶ ̵t̷h̶i̵s̸ ̴s̷i̵t̶u̸a̵t̴i̷o̸n̴ ̵f̶a̸r̸ ̷m̴o̴r̸e̸ ̵t̸h̷e̷n̴ ̷I̷ ̵c̴a̵r̶e̴ ̶f̴o̵r̷ ̴y̴o̶u̷ ̵a̷b̸s̵o̵l̵u̶t̵e̸ ̴c̴l̴o̷w̸n̸s̴.̷”</p><p> </p><p>“HEY! I’m the clown here, and how <b><em>DARE</em></b> you compare me to Dark Meta Knight!” Marx yelled.</p><p> </p><p>“YE- <em> Wait what did you just say about my boyfriend? </em>” Daroach questioned.</p><p> </p><p>“R̶e̵l̷a̴x̸,̴ ̴r̷e̶l̵a̷x̸,̷ ̸d̵o̷ ̸y̸o̸u̴ ̴r̶e̷a̸l̶l̷y̶ ̷t̷h̷i̷n̴k̷ ̴I̸ ̵w̵o̴u̵l̸d̴ ̵g̸o̵ ̵u̸p̷ ̴a̵n̶d̴ ̸w̶i̵l̵l̶i̴n̵g̷l̸y̸ ̵f̵i̸g̸h̴t̵ ̶a̴g̴a̶i̵n̶s̵t̷ ̶K̸i̶r̷b̶y̶ ̵a̶ ̸s̸e̸c̷o̶n̶d̷ ̵t̸i̴m̵e̵?̴ ̴W̸h̸o̶ ̴d̵o̴ ̶y̵o̵u̸ ̴t̷h̶i̸n̵k̷ ̷I̶ ̵a̴m̵?̷ ̸G̸a̷l̸a̵c̸t̵a̴ ̷K̸n̴i̵g̸h̷t̵?̴” DMS asked.</p><p> </p><p>“...hate to say it Dedede, but they got a point,” Susie stated.</p><p> </p><p>“...”</p><p> </p><p>“De-”</p><p> </p><p>“<b> <em>WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY!?!”</em> </b> Dedede screamed, “ <b> <em>IT HAS POSSESSED ME COUNTLESS TIMES.</em> </b>”</p><p> </p><p>“I̷'̶d̸ ̸p̴r̶e̷f̴e̶r̷ ̷i̵f̸ ̸y̵o̷u̶ ̴d̸i̴d̷n̸'̴t̴ ̷c̸a̴l̸l̸ ̵m̷e̶ ̵a̸n̴ ̸'̷i̸t̵'̶,̸ ̴I̶'̶d̵ ̶r̸a̴t̵h̶e̶r̴ ̷t̴a̴k̴e̷ ̴t̶h̷e̶y̸ ̷o̴r̸-̶”</p><p> </p><p>“<b> <em>CAN IT YOU SPIKY FREAK</em> </b>”</p><p> </p><p>“O̸k̸a̷y̷”</p><p> </p><p>“<b> <em>IN WHAT WORLD DO YOU THINK IT’S  EVEN REMOTELY REDEEMABLE!?!</em> </b>”</p><p> </p><p>“The one where Marx and Magolor are two trusted allies to Kirby,” Susie explained.</p><p> </p><p>“Y’know what? Let’s take a vote, who wants Dark Matter to be our teammate?” Magolor asked, tossing everyone a piece of paper.</p><p> </p><p>(Roughly 2 tense minutes later)</p><p> </p><p>“Hate to say it Dedede, but it’s 17 votes for yes and two votes for no,” Magolor explained.</p><p> </p><p>“I assume Meta is the other one who said no?” Daroach asked.</p><p> </p><p>“No it was me, I’m with Dedede,” Taranza added, “trusting someone who possesses people on a regular basis seems foolish.”</p><p> </p><p>“THANK you for being the only other sensible one here Taranza,” Dedede complained, “now if you excuse me, I’m going to go take a nap, if I wake up and I’m not in control of my body, you all will feel my wrath.”</p><p> </p><p>“Oh golly gee the fat penguin is going to use its muscles that don’t exist we’re all doomed,” Flamberge joked.</p><p> </p><p>“I can kick you out of the castle y’know.”</p><p> </p><p>“I never said anything.”</p><p> </p><p>“That’s what I thought.”</p><p> </p><p>--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</p><p> </p><p>Later that night…</p><p> </p><p>“Marx, kiss, marry, kill, Haltmann, Sectonia, Hyness,” Ribbon lazily asked.</p><p> </p><p>“Please don’t use my abuser as a ploy for children’s games you absolute gremlin fairy,” Zan snapped.</p><p> </p><p>“OKAY, Haltmann, Sectonia, and.... Zero I guess?”</p><p> </p><p>“So first of all, Imma murder Zero in cold blood, and in the original lineup my opinion does not change as Hyness can die in a hole,” Marx explained.</p><p> </p><p>“Agreed,” Zan, Flamberge, and Francisca said together.</p><p> </p><p>“Kiss Haltmann because I’m not marrying Susie’s dad.”</p><p> </p><p>“Oh good, because if you said otherwise I’d have to shoot you,” Susie nonchalantly added, putting her pistol away.</p><p> </p><p>“And marry Sectonia because by what Taranza has said she used to be really nice.”</p><p> </p><p>“She really, really, was amazing,” Taranza tearfully added.</p><p> </p><p>“S̵o̸ ̸s̶h̸o̵u̴l̷d̴ ̸I̴ ̷b̸e̶ ̶w̸o̶r̶r̴i̶e̴d̵ ̵t̴h̸a̸t̷ ̸y̶o̴u̸ ̴l̴o̴t̷ ̵a̷r̸e̶ ̵p̸e̸r̸f̸e̸c̵t̷l̶y̴ ̷f̵i̵n̸e̷ ̶w̴i̵t̸h̸ ̵m̷u̶r̸d̷e̴r̴i̴n̴g̶ ̵m̷y̷ ̴'̶f̵a̸m̴i̴l̵y̸'̸ ̸b̵e̵c̶a̶u̶s̴e̴ ̶i̴f̵ ̵s̸o̷.̷.̶.̷”</p><p> </p><p>“Ehh, don’t worry your evil little self,” Daroach comforted.</p><p> </p><p>“H̴e̷y̵”</p><p> </p><p>“If we were gonna kill you we would’ve let Dedede clobber you with his mallet,” Daroach explained, “y’know it can shoot missiles?”</p><p> </p><p>“Common misconception,” Bandana chipped in, ”Great King’s <em> rocket hammer </em> is the one that shoots missiles, his normal mallot just has a jet-powered engine in it.”</p><p> </p><p>“‘Just has a jet-powered engine’,” Marx mocked.</p><p> </p><p>“Hey-”</p><p> </p><p>“Hold up, everyone be quiet,” Meta shushed, “did anyone else hear that?” Meta was right, there was a faint rustling sound in the bushes.</p><p> </p><p>“How can anything else be here? Dark Matter, are you sure you have no living family other than Gooey?” Susie asked.</p><p> </p><p>“1̶0̸0̶%̷,̸ ̶Z̷e̴r̶o̶ ̴a̷n̶d̶ ̵Z̷e̷r̵o̷2̷ ̸g̷o̵t̸ ̵k̴i̵l̶l̴e̴d̶ ̸b̶y̴ ̸K̶i̷r̶b̷y̷ ̶a̶ ̶l̷o̸n̵g̷ ̴w̴h̴i̷l̴e̷ ̸b̷a̴c̷k̵ ̴a̸n̸d̸ ̵D̵a̶r̵k̸ ̵N̵e̴b̶u̷l̷a̴ ̷g̶o̵t̷ ̵k̴i̸l̸l̶e̸d̸ ̶l̵a̴t̷e̶r̵,̴ ̷n̷o̷ ̴o̶n̷e̵ ̸I̸ ̴c̷a̶n̵ ̴t̶h̵i̷n̶k̸ ̵o̶f̴ ̷i̸s̷ ̸s̴t̵i̶l̴l̵ ̶a̷r̵o̴u̵n̶d̴.̶”</p><p> </p><p>“...hmm, this is suspicious, anyone want to go check it out?” Meta asked.</p><p> </p><p>“Me, Magolor, and Susie could go,” Taranza suggested.</p><p> </p><p>“Why us?” Magolor asked.</p><p> </p><p>“Because no one here really trusts Marx or Dark Meta to not cause more problems, and three is enough to where you won’t get completely overwhelmed by power,” the royal explained.</p><p> </p><p>“Good idea, Susie, Magolor, you guys okay with it?” Meta Knight asked.</p><p> </p><p>“Yeah I’m fine with it.”</p><p> </p><p>“Not like I’m doing much else, fine.” <strike>The glowy eyes trio, the redemption gang, wave three</strike>, Magolor, Taranza, and Susie, got up and walked into the area around them.</p><p> </p><p>“...hey where’s Dedede?” Marx asked.</p><p> </p><p>“Dark? Where are you? We need to go to bed!” Daroach called</p><p> </p><p>“Has anyone seen Gooey? I can’t find them,” Adeleine questioned.</p><p> </p><p>*<em> So it begins </em>* Dark Matter thought.</p><p> </p><p>---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</p><p> </p><p>It took no less than three seconds before Wave Three got overwhelmed by power.</p><p> </p><p>Susie was knocked to the ground and dropped her laser pistol, bruising her left hand, she looked to her right and saw the unconscious body of Magolor, who got hit first by the mystery assailant. Looking up, she saw her attacker, who looked down at her with pity in their eyes.</p><p> </p><p>“You…” Susie sputtered, struggling to speak after getting her lungs nearly crushed, “you’re nothing but a damned <b> <em>TRAITOR!</em> </b>”</p><p> </p><p>And that was the last thing Susie said before the world went dark.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Allan here, to add details, don't worry, wave three isn't dead... yet. (If you're wondering why there's no summary, laziness)</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Grief and Gratification</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The Star Allies learn of the kidnapping of Wave Three, Francisca and Zan don't take it so well.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Susie? Taranza? Magolor? Where are you guys?” Adeleine called, after last night Magolor, Taranza, and Susie didn’t come back to the campsite, and weren’t there when everyone woke up. So this morning, a search party consisting of Adeleine, Marx, Dark Meta Knight, and Bandana looked for them.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Guys! If this is some elaborate prank it’s not very funny! AND I WOULD KNOW!” Marx yelled.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Quiet, jester, there’s no need to scream,” Dark scolded.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“With you around, there’s always a reason to scream.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“<b>AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-</b>” Bandana screamed.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“See? Bandana agrees with me.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Quit joking this could be serious,” Adeleine countered, walking over to the waddle dee, they could see him shaking and hunched over. “Bandana?” Adeleine offered, “you okay?” After a brief pause, Bandana turned around to reveal Susie’s blaster in his nubs.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Where’d you find that?” Dark asked, to which Bandana responded by pointing to a bush on his right. Looking behind the bush, the party saw what looked to be a warzone, webs lined several rocks around the perimeter, there were burn marks on the ground, and a few gem apples were laying on the ground.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“S-s-someone <b> <em>KIDNAPPED </em> </b>them!” Bandana exclaimed.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Oh no, oh no no no no no no, I am TOO YOUNG FOR THIS!” Adeleine yelled, she was met by a subtle, yet comforting hug from Dark, who whispered in her ear so the other two couldn’t hear.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“<em> It’s going to be okay, you aren’t going to be hurt by anyone, we’ll save them, I promise. </em>” Marx pretended that he didn’t hear that conversation and chipped in with something else.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“I know that this is awful, but I just thought of something worse,” he said, causing everyone to look at him confusedly. “...Who’s gonna tell Zan and Francisca?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</p>
<p>So the place where the Star Allies were staying is called Fracture Hills, why is it called that? Well originally it was called Greener Pastures but Zan just blew up a hill and Francisca fragmented a cliff so Dedede thought the new name fit more. Flamberge has volunteered to go calm her sisters down, even if she didn’t the others would’ve made her, she’s the only one besides Susie and Taranza respectively that could calm them down. Although seeing the current state of Wave Three… it’s best not to bring them into the conversation.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Francisca? Could you come down?” Flamberge asked, watching her younger sister flash freeze half a forest.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“GO AWAY!”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Francisca-”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“I DON’T WANT YOU HERE!”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“<b>Francisca.</b>”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“LEAVE ME ALONE!”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“FRANCISCA!”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“WHAT!?!?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Please, come down here, we need to talk,” Flamberge begged, starting to tear up.</p>
<p>Francisca paused, then floated down, she was already hurting enough, her sister didn’t need to share that.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“What is this about?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“What do you THINK this is about?” Flamberge commented, gesturing to the winter wonderland she had caused.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“That’s… not important.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“You’re right it isn’t.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“I said it was- wait what did you say?” Francisca said, processing the previous comment.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“What’s important right now, is you, we can worry about the forest later,” Flamberge calmly said, “now, please, talk to me.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“I don’t see why I have to, I mean, you already know the whole story.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Yeah, I do, but Gooey always knew the end of my rants, but they still listened,” Flamberge explained, “it’s nice to be able to just, let it all out.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“<em> Sigh </em> fine, here goes nothing,” Francisca took a deep breath, “Susie and me have been going through some slight relationship trouble in which we had an argument over the wedding theme due to religious differences and it’s been eating me up inside because I’m terrified that this might cause us to break up and I never want to do that as she makes my world perfect and I’m even more terrified of the idea of Susie dieing thinking that I didn’t love her because of one stupid arguement and on top of all of that I want to adopt a kid a little while into our marriage but Susie has stated that she doesn’t like kids but I’ve always wanted to be a mother and I want tO SCREAM.” Francisca  finished, starting to break down.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“...Wow.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“I know, it’s stupid and I’m probably overreacting-” Francisca started, fully crying now</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“You’re really not.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“What? Why?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Francisca, I can’t possibly imagine what you’re going through, but I can imagine one thing.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Y-yeah? And what’s that?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“You, rescuing Susie from a jail cell, and beating up the bastard who kidnapped her, I’ll even hold them down for you!”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“...okay that does sound a little tempting.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“See? Anyway, you should probably go back to the others, they’re worried about you.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“What about the-” Francisca started, gesturing to the forest behind them.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“I’ll thaw it out for you in a bit, D3 doesn’t have to know.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Oh, thanks, I guess, that sounded ungrateful, uh-”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“It’s fine Francisca, just go and head back to camp, I need to talk with Zan.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Oh, right, do you want me to-?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“No, I can handle this myself, besides, Zan probably wants to be left alone, having more than one person there might set her off.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“That’s… fair, oh and uh, one more thing.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Hmm?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“How did you know how to calm me down? Like, that easily?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Simple, I know you don’t want to see your big sister cry.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Wait.. <b>YOU WERE FAKING THAT!?!?</b>” Francisca screamed</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Alright gotta go help Zan bye!” Flamberge rushed, flying towards the last place she heard lightning. She found a clearing with a giant hole where (presumably) a mountain used to be, in the center was Zan, hunched over, crying.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><em> *Well at least she’s not destroying the area anymore </em>* Flamberge thought, floating down to her older sister. “Hey Zan?” she called, being met by an angry, tearful glare from her sister, “You okay?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Do I fucking look okay!?” Zan snapped, “my boyfriend might be dead right now, in what world would I be okay!?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“That’s fair, but can we talk?” </p>
<p> </p>
<p>“TALK ABOUT WHAT EXACTLY!? WHERE TO HOST TARANZA’S FUNERAL!?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“You don’t know if Taranza’s dead, Zan.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“He’s a leader of a country that’s done any good for the world, OF COURSE SOMEONE WOULD WANT TO KILL HIM.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Okay so you’ve said why someone would want to kill him, but tell me, how are you sure he’s dead?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“BECAUSE... because… because bad things happen to good people!”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“That’s not necessarily true-”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“THEN WHY IS TARANZA DEAD!?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“HE’S NOT DEAD ZAN!”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT?!”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“BECAUSE TARANZA CAN PUPPETEER PEOPLE AROUND LIKE THEY’RE SIMPLE TOYS, WITHSTAND A SUPERNOVA, AND CAN SUCCESSFULLY BLOCK A BLOW FROM YOU, ME, AND FRANCISCA ALL AT ONCE WHEN WE WERE ANGRY, DO YOU REALLY THINK HE’S DEAD!?” Flamberge screamed.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“I- I- I don’t know…” Zan teared up.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Zan, tell me, why do you think he’s dead?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“...because I can never have a functioning support system that isn’t you and Francisca apparently,” Zan sobbed.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“...what?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“My family was killed in a raid on our village, my one parental figure after that was abusive, and now my boyfriend’s gone.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Zan I… I don’t really know what to say, but I can promise you something, we’ll find the monster who did this, and we’ll make them wish they’d never been born,” Flamberge said.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Yeah but,” Zan started, pulling out a small black box from her pocket and opening it, revealing an emerald ring inside, “what if it’s too late?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“It won’t be too late, I promise, we need to go back to camp, the others are worried about you.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Yeah, I know.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“I’m gonna get going, come soon, we’re probably gonna leave quickly,” Flamberge added, “oh and by the way, you blowing up the hill was really cool.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Zan chuckled, “Thanks, Berge”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“No problem.” Flamberge said, and floated away.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Zan looked at the engagement ring in her hands and simply said, “Please still be out there Taranza,” before putting the box back in her pocket, and following Flamberge.</p>
<p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
<p>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Meanwhile, somewhere in Floralia, a regretfully familiar face is sorting through the items they picked up during the scuffle with Wave Three. After putting some gem apples into the “Useless to me” section, they find a small box lying on the table, picking it up, it’s opened to reveal a yellow topaz engagement ring, placing it to the side, they continue sorting the items into the correct categories.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Meanwhile, at the camp, Dark Matter is trying (and failing) to be friendly towards the Star Allies.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“W̸e̵l̵l̶ ̵t̶o̵d̵a̶y̴ ̴h̸a̸s̸ ̵b̵e̴e̷n̴ ̶a̶n̵ ̷a̵b̴s̸o̴l̸u̸t̷e̷ ̷d̴i̶s̴a̷s̴t̷e̸r̷” the Swordsman commented.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“What’s wrong?” Gooey asked, rolling in to see their big sibling.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“O̶h̶,̶ ̷h̶e̵y̸ ̷G̸o̷o̸e̵y̴,̵ ̸y̵o̷u̵r̸ ̴f̶r̸i̷e̸n̴d̴s̸ ̴h̷a̸t̴e̴ ̶m̴e̸”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Why? Friends are nice, you are nice, why aren’t they nice now?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“O̴h̷ ̵n̴o̶,̸ ̴t̵h̴e̵y̴'̶r̵e̵ ̶s̸t̵i̴l̴l̵ ̷p̵e̴r̶f̷e̸c̷t̶l̵y̶ ̷f̷i̶n̵e̶ ̷p̷e̷o̸p̷l̶e̷,̷ ̶t̷h̸e̶y̷ ̶j̷u̶s̵t̴ ̷d̶o̸n̷'̴t̵ ̷l̸i̶k̴e̶ ̸m̶e̷ ̵a̶l̵l̴ ̵t̸h̵a̸t̶ ̷m̵u̴c̴h̴”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“But they voted to keep you…”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“N̶o̶,̸ ̷t̴h̸e̷y̶ ̶v̷o̴t̵e̸d̸ ̴t̴o̸ ̵h̷a̴v̴e̷ ̵s̵o̷m̶e̵o̷n̵e̷ ̶i̴m̴m̵u̴n̷e̷ ̶t̷o̴ ̵t̷i̶m̸e̷ ̷t̷r̶a̶v̵e̸l̷,̷ ̷t̷h̷e̸y̷ ̶d̷i̶d̴ ̶n̶o̶t̸ ̴v̴o̷t̴e̷ ̷f̸o̸r̴ ̷m̵e̴.̶”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Aww… I thought we could all be one big group of friends.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“W̷h̵e̵n̸ ̶d̷i̷d̴ ̶y̸o̸u̴ ̶s̸t̶a̷r̶t̴ ̶t̵a̴l̶k̵i̵n̸g̸ ̸i̶n̵ ̸f̷u̶l̷l̷y̸ ̵f̵o̵r̶m̵e̵d̴ ̸s̴e̴n̵t̸e̷n̶c̶e̴s̵?̸”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“I don’t know.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Y̵o̵u̶ ̷k̶n̸o̸w̵ ̸w̶h̵a̴t̴?̸ ̷I̸t̸ ̸d̴o̶e̶s̵n̵'̷t̸ ̶m̶a̴t̸t̷e̸r̵,̴ ̷I̸ ̵j̷u̴s̵t̶ ̷w̶a̵n̷t̶e̸d̶ ̷t̵o̵ ̶h̵a̵n̴g̷ ̶o̸u̶t̶ ̸w̴i̴t̷h̸ ̸y̴o̶u̷,̷ ̷n̴o̶t̴ ̴t̵h̷e̴m̴,̴ ̶s̸o̸ ̷i̴f̶ ̸t̵h̸e̸y̴ ̶h̴a̶t̴e̶,̴ ̷f̵i̷n̶e̸.̴”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“NOOoooo, don’t say that! You don’t deserve hatred!!!”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“G̴o̸o̷e̶y̴,̶ ̷I̵ ̴t̸r̸i̶e̵d̴ ̵t̸o̵ ̸t̴a̷k̴e̷ ̵o̵v̴e̴r̵ ̷t̸h̴e̸ ̸w̷o̷r̶l̴d̴.̸”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“I know, but you’re still a good person.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“T̷h̸a̷n̴k̶s̴ ̴G̵o̸o̶e̵y̵,̴ ̸y̸o̵u̶ ̵s̷h̷o̵u̷l̸d̷ ̷p̴r̸o̴b̷a̸b̷l̷y̷ ̴g̵o̷ ̷b̸a̷c̸k̴ ̴t̵o̸ ̵y̷o̶u̷r̸ ̶f̶r̶i̴e̷n̶d̶s̷ ̸t̵h̴o̷u̸g̷h̷,̷ ̶t̶h̸e̴y̸'̷d̸ ̸f̴r̷e̷a̸k̸ ̴o̵u̵t̷ ̶i̵f̴ ̸y̴o̴u̷ ̶f̴o̶u̷n̴d̶ ̴o̶u̶t̴ ̷y̸o̶u̸ ̸w̴e̶r̶e̷ ̵h̸a̷n̸g̷i̸n̴g̸ ̸o̸u̵t̴ ̵w̸i̷t̴h̷ ̶m̴e̶.̵”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Okayyy, bye.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“S̶e̵e̷ ̴y̴a̷.̶” Dark Matter said, watching Gooey bouncing away from them, they waited until Gooey wasn’t in earshot and simply said “I̵'̵m̴ ̸n̷o̵t̸ ̸a̸ ̵g̷o̸o̵d̶ ̶p̵e̶r̷s̵o̶n̷.̶ ̴I̸'̶m̸ ̷n̶o̷t̶ ̷e̷v̶e̴n̴ ̸a̷ ̶p̵e̵r̵s̶o̵n̵.̸”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Another Hero?</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>A new member is added to the party, the big bad villain watches anxiously, Dark Matter reveals a secret, what will happen next? Will Rick, Kine, Coo, Bandana, Adeleine, Ribbon, or Dark Meta Knight ever take the spotlight? Probably not. Who knows? Not me. And I'm the author!</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“So does anyone here actually know how to work this thing?” Daroach asked, holding the Time Stabilizer Susie made.</p><p> </p><p>“Try shaking it violently.” Flamberge suggested.</p><p> </p><p>“Marx. Do. Not.” Zan warned, glaring at the jester.</p><p> </p><p>“I wasn’t gonna say anything!” Marx defended, once Zan stopped looking at him he muttered “That’s what he said.” under his breath.</p><p> </p><p>“Give me that,” Meta said, taking the remote out of the rat’s hands, “Susie showed me how to use this back on the Lor, all you do is tap both buttons twice.”</p><p> </p><p>“Wait, I have a question,” Adeleine asked.</p><p> </p><p>“Yes, Adeleine?”</p><p> </p><p>“How long has that been off?”</p><p> </p><p>“Oh, for the last day or so,” Meta explained.</p><p> </p><p>“So, why weren’t we jumping around in time?”</p><p> </p><p>“I… don’t… know…” Meta started.</p><p> </p><p>“Y̴o̸u̷'̷r̷e̶ ̷w̵e̵l̸c̴o̷m̶e̴.̷”</p><p> </p><p>“What?”</p><p> </p><p>“I̶ ̴s̷a̵i̵d̶ ̵y̵o̶u̶'̸r̶e̸ ̶w̷e̵l̵c̴o̴m̶e̶ ̷f̴o̶r̸ ̵h̷o̷l̴d̸i̸n̸g̸ ̵t̸i̸m̷e̴ ̶i̴n̶ ̷p̴l̶a̷c̷e̷ ̶w̷h̶i̶l̴e̵ ̶y̶o̷u̷ ̸a̵l̴l̶ ̸h̷a̶d ̵p̴a̵n̴i̶c̵ ̷a̸t̷t̴a̶c̵k̸s̸ ̷a̸n̵d̴ ̷i̸n̶s̵u̵l̶t̵e̴d̶ ̸m̴e̴.̴”</p><p> </p><p>“Oh, uhh, thanks?” Meta reacted.</p><p> </p><p>“Please do not thank them,” Dedede requested.</p><p> </p><p>“H̴o̶w̷e̶v̶e̵r̸,̶ ̷j̷u̵s̶t̶ ̷b̷e̸c̶a̷u̶s̶e̴ ̷I̴ ̴c̶a̵n̵ ̶k̶e̶e̴p̷ ̴a̴l̸l̵ ̶o̴f̵ ̸u̸s̷ ̴i̸n̵ ̷h̶e̶r̷e̶,̷ ̸t̷h̶a̴t̴ ̶d̸o̵e̶s̶n̵'̷t̶ ̶m̷e̷a̶n̸ ̷I̴ ̶c̶o̷u̵l̵d̸n̶'̶t̴ ̷k̸e̶e̸p̷ ̷e̸v̴e̷r̴y̸t̸h̴i̴n̵g̵ ̵o̵u̸t̷,̷ ̶o̸r̴ ̸s̵h̸o̷u̸l̷d̸ ̵I̷ ̵s̶a̴y̸ ̴e̷v̸e̶r̷y̴<em> o̷n̵e̴ </em>,̴” Dark Matter commented.</p><p> </p><p>“Someone came in here? What did they look like?” Dark Meta asked, interested.</p><p> </p><p>“T̷h̶e̶y̴ ̵l̴o̴o̵k̴e̸d̸ ̶k̷i̷n̸d̸a̶ ̴l̸i̷k̷e̴ ̸K̸i̵r̵b̷y̶ ̸t̸o̸ ̵b̵e̶ ̴h̵o̸n̷e̷s̷t̴,̶ ̵t̴h̸e̵y̷ ̸w̸e̶r̵e̷ ̵j̸u̵s̶t̴ ̷b̶l̶u̵e̶ ̸a̷n̸d̴.̶.̶.̵ ̴k̴i̷n̵d̸a̴.̴.̴.̵ ̶s̸e̷e̷ ̸t̸h̷r̷o̵u̷g̷h̴?̶ ̶T̶h̵e̵ ̵w̸e̷r̸e̷n̷'̸t̷ ̵m̵a̸d̴e̸ ̸o̶f̵ ̶f̸l̶e̸s̶h̴ ̶e̸i̶t̶h̶e̶r̷,̶” the swordsman described, “w̵h̵a̴t̷e̷v̷e̸r̶ ̸t̸h̷e̵y̴ ̷w̸e̴r̷e̶ ̸m̵a̷d̶e̵ ̶o̵f̷ ̸i̷t̵ ̷w̸a̵s̸ ̴r̴e̶a̴l̷l̶y̸<b> ̸f̸l̶u̴f̸f̴y̴</b>”</p><p> </p><p>“POYO!” Kirby yelled.</p><p> </p><p>“W̷h̵a̶t̴?” Dark Matter asked.</p><p> </p><p>“POYO POYO POYO POYO <b>POYO!?</b>” Kirby continued.</p><p> </p><p>“W̶h̴y̴ ̷d̷o̸ ̵y̵o̸u̵ ̵w̷a̷n̵t̵ ̴t̴o̷ ̸k̸n̴o̷w̴ ̷w̴h̶e̶r̷e̸ th̶e̶y ̵are?̴”</p><p> </p><p>“Wait wait wait wait wait wait WAIT. You can understand Kirby!?” Rick asked.</p><p> </p><p>“O̸f̶ ̵c̸o̸u̸r̸s̴e̶ ̷I̸ ̶c̷a̵n̷.̴ ̵I̸ ̸c̵a̵n̸ ̸r̷e̵a̷d̷ ̵m̷i̴n̷d̷s̷.̷”</p><p> </p><p>“What.”</p><p> </p><p>“W̸h̶a̶t̷.̸”</p><p> </p><p>“<b>POYO!</b>”</p><p> </p><p>“F̶i̶n̶e̶,̶ ̶f̶i̵n̶e̶,̸ ̵I̷'̴l̴l̶ ̵s̸h̴o̶w̴ ̵y̸o̸u̶ ̶w̷h̶e̴r̴e̶ ̸h̴e̸ ̸i̶s̴,” Dark Matter said, floating away from the site, leading the group to an oddly cold forest.</p><p> </p><p>“I thought you said you would thaw it out…” Francisca whispered to Flamberge.</p><p> </p><p>“I was a little preoccupied,” Flamberge whispered back.</p><p> </p><p>Dark Matter revealed a ball of dark pulsing energy, with muffled screaming from the inside.</p><p> </p><p>“<b>☟︎⚐︎🕈︎ 👎︎✌︎☼︎☜︎ ✡︎⚐︎🕆︎ 👎︎⚐︎ ❄︎☟︎✋︎💧︎ ❄︎⚐︎ ✌︎ 🏱︎☼︎✋︎☠︎👍︎☜︎✏︎</b>” it yelled.</p><p> </p><p>DMS looked at Kirby and said “W̶h̸a̵t̷?̵ ̸I̴ ̵d̷i̵d̴n̴'̷t̵ ̶k̶n̶o̸w̵ ̷i̵f̸ ̴h̶e̵ ̵w̴a̵s̶ ̶d̶a̸n̵g̵e̷r̵o̶u̶s̷,̸” after seeing Kirby’s unamused face they said “f̸i̸n̷e̵,̵ ̴I̷'̷l̵l̵ ̷l̴e̷t̵ ̷h̸i̸m̶ ̷o̴u̵t̴.̶” with a wave of their sword, the literal fluff ball fell out of his prison.</p><p> </p><p>After falling on the ground (and getting hurt by his crown falling on his head) the royal looked up and yelled “<b>I HAVE BEEN TICKLED. FOR 35 MINUTES. WHO DID THIS TO ME?! I WILL DECLARE WAR ON YOUR ASS-</b>”</p><p> </p><p>“POYO!”</p><p> </p><p>“Oh hey Kirby,” Prince Fluff calmly remarked, after that he saw DMS and yelled “<b>YOU!</b>”</p><p> </p><p>“Poyo!” Kirby yelled, holding the Prince back from strangling Dark Matter, who couldn’t care less.</p><p> </p><p>“O̷h̶ ̷d̸e̴a̵r̸,̸ ̴t̴h̸e̶ ̶r̴o̵y̸a̵l̴ ̶w̵h̶o̴ ̴l̵i̷k̷e̵l̵y̴ ̸d̴o̷e̸s̷ ̸n̷o̸t̷h̶i̶n̷g̸ ̶b̶y̸ ̵t̶h̸e̵m̷s̷e̵l̸f̶ ̷i̸s̸ ̴t̸r̵y̷i̸n̴g̵ ̷t̸o̶ ̵s̸t̸r̵a̵n̶g̶l̴e̴ ̴m̷e̸,̸ ̸w̷h̶a̴t̷e̸v̵e̶r̸ ̷w̸i̸l̶l̵ ̵I̸,̵ ̷t̴h̶e̵ ̵l̷a-.̵.̸.̵<b>a̴</b> ̵p̵i̵e̴c̵e̶ ̴o̵f̷ ̶D̶a̶r̵k̷ ̶M̸a̵t̸t̵e̴r̶,̶ ̸a̷ ̸c̸o̷s̵m̷i̵c̸ ̴h̸o̶r̸r̶o̵r̷,̶ ̷d̶o̴,̸” DMS sarcastically said.</p><p> </p><p>“What were you about to say?” asked Dedede, noticing the villain’s hesitation.</p><p> </p><p>“I̵-̸ ̷.̸.̷.̷n̷o̴t̴h̸i̵n̵g̵.̵ ̴N̵o̷t̶h̶i̴n̶g̷ ̵a̵t̸ ̶a̷l̶l̴.̸ ̸W̶h̴y̶ ̶w̵o̷u̷l̸d̶ ̶y̸o̵u̴ ̴c̴a̶r̶e̴ ̷a̷n̶y̴w̸a̸y̴?̵”</p><p> </p><p>“I don’t, I was just curious is all,” D3 mumbled to himself.</p><p> </p><p>“<b>I AM GOING TO SNAP YOUR NECK!</b>”</p><p> </p><p>“Poyo!!!”</p><p> </p><p>“<b>YOU WILL DIE BY MY HANDS!</b>”</p><p> </p><p>POYO!!!”</p><p> </p><p>“<b>I’M GOING TO BREAK YOU LIKE A DAMN TWIG!</b>”</p><p> </p><p>“<b>POYO!!!</b>”</p><p> </p><p>“WHAT?!”</p><p> </p><p>Kirby pointed at Dark Matter and then pointed at the rest of his friends.</p><p> </p><p>“...what do you mean they’re your friend?”</p><p> </p><p>“Poyo.”</p><p> </p><p>“Kirby, they tortured me.”</p><p> </p><p>“Y̶o̶u̷ ̸w̵e̴r̵e̴ ̴b̷e̶i̷n̶g̶ ̵t̷i̸c̸k̴l̷e̸d̷ ̸d̸r̷a̶m̸a̴ ̸q̵u̶e̴e̷n̷.̵”</p><p> </p><p>“THAT IS IRRELEVANT!”</p><p> </p><p>“POYO!”</p><p> </p><p>“Fine, fine, I’ll let it slide, for now,” Prince Fluff said, clearly unhappy with the situation. He didn’t really have the time to grumble about it anyway, as the lightning cloud’s forming around Zan’s head as she angrily looked at her phone was a little distraction.</p><p> </p><p>“Z-Zan? You okay?” Daroach asked, he was met by Zan turning her phone around for the group to look at, revealing that she got a few texts from Taranza’s number, the texts simply read.</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>:It has come to my attention that you want to see your boyfriend again.</b>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>:I could make this a reality.</b>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>:Under one caveat.</b>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>:Don’t interfere with my plans, this extends to Susie and Francisca as well, it would be a shame if the wedding ended early wouldn’t it?</b>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>:It would.</b>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>:I’m perfectly willing to let them live.</b>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>:All you have to do, is not interfere.</b>
</p><p> </p><p>Francisca responded by flash-freezing the <em> other </em> half of the forest. After Flamberge thawed out the area around them, Daroach took Zan’s phone out of her hands.</p><p> </p><p>“What the-” Zan started.</p><p> </p><p>Daroach responded by pulling out a laptop and saying “Galacta doesn’t realize I can track phones.”</p><p> </p><p>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</p><p> </p><p>“Damn it,” said the perpetrator watching with the Time Breaker, they really hoped that threat would work.</p><p> </p><p>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</p><p> </p><p>While Daroach was busy tracking Taranza’s phone, Dark Matter floated over to Gooey.</p><p> </p><p>“H̴e̴y̶ ̴G̵o̷o̶e̸y̸,̸ ̷c̵a̵n̷ ̷w̵e̵ ̶t̵a̴l̸k̴?̸”</p><p> </p><p>“Sure! About what?”</p><p> </p><p>“S̵o̵m̴e̷t̸h̶i̴n̶g̵.̶.̷.̴ ̶p̷r̷i̵v̴a̵t̸e̷,̸ ̶f̵o̸l̵l̵o̴w̶ ̶m̸e̶ ̸f̵o̷r̵ ̵a̴ ̴s̸e̷c̸o̷n̸d̶.̵”</p><p> </p><p>“Okay!” Gooey happily exclaimed, following the Swordsman towards a more discreet location. I mean, it would be discreet, if Dedede hadn’t overheard their conversation and decided to follow them. Once they were in a more discreet part of the forest, Dark started to talk.</p><p> </p><p>“I̵ ̵d̶o̷n̷'̵t̶ ̷e̵x̵a̸c̶t̴l̷y̴ ̶k̵n̶o̶w̵ ̷h̶o̸w̶ ̵t̴o̵ ̸p̵h̴r̵a̷s̵e̸ ̶t̶h̸i̵s̷ ̵G̵o̵o̷e̵y̵,̸ ̷b̴u̸t̸,̶ ̸y̷'̷k̸n̷o̶w̶ ̵h̴o̵w̶ ̷D̷a̶r̴k̴ ̵M̶a̴t̸t̷e̵r̷ ̴w̶a̶s̸ ̵ ̷s̵p̸l̶i̴t̸?̷ ̷A̵n̷d̸ ̴s̸e̵v̷e̵r̵a̶l̷ ̸p̸i̴e̴c̶e̵s̴ ̵w̸e̸r̷e̴ ̷f̵o̴u̴n̷d̵ ̴a̷l̸l̵ ̴a̶c̵r̶o̴s̵s̴ ̴t̸h̵e̵ ̸g̷a̷l̶a̸x̴y̶?̵”</p><p> </p><p>“Yeah… I do.”</p><p> </p><p>“T̴h̸e̵y̴'̵r̴e̸ ̷d̷e̷a̸d̵.̸ ̶T̵h̶e̴y̸'̷r̸e̶ ̴a̵l̸l̶ ̵d̶e̷a̸d̸,̸ ̷G̸o̶o̸e̴y̶.̴ ̴U̶s̶ ̵t̷w̵o̵?̷ ̸W̶e̵ ̵a̴r̴e̴ ̷t̸h̷e̴ ̵l̷a̸s̸t̵ ̶s̶u̸r̸v̷i̷v̴i̴n̵g̸ ̶p̴i̷e̵c̵e̸s̷ ̶o̵f̷ ̸D̷a̴r̶k̷ ̵M̴a̶t̵t̸e̶r̵.̴”</p><p> </p><p>“W-what?”</p><p> </p><p>“Z̴e̴r̴o̶,̷ ̸Z̸e̷r̵o̵²̵,̶ ̴h̸e̸l̵l̷,̶ ̷e̵v̵e̴n̴ ̶D̵a̶r̶k̵ ̵N̷e̵b̸u̴l̶a̶?̶ ̸G̶o̵n̶e̶,̸ ̴i̸t̸'̶s̶ ̷j̶u̴s̸t̷ ̴u̵s̵.̵”</p><p> </p><p>“Nooo, this sounds bad…”</p><p> </p><p>“F̸o̴r̵ ̸m̵e̵,̷ ̵i̵t̵ ̴i̶s̵,̵ ̶f̵o̴r̶ ̴y̸o̸u̶?̶ ̸N̸o̷,̶ ̸i̶t̶ ̶d̸o̷e̴s̸n̶'̴t̵ ̷a̶f̸f̴e̵c̷t̴ ̴y̶o̶u̸,̵ ̸y̴o̵u̶ ̵w̶e̸r̶e̷ ̴s̷e̶p̵a̴r̶a̸t̸e̴d̷ ̷f̵r̴o̵m̵ ̸D̴a̸r̸k̸ ̶M̷a̶t̸t̴e̴r̵,̸ ̵r̶e̸m̷e̶m̸b̵e̴r̵?̴ ̶T̷h̷e̶ ̸c̵e̵s̴s̸a̷t̸i̶o̸n̷ ̸o̵f̶ ̵D̶a̷r̷k̵ ̶M̵a̴t̸t̴e̷r̸ ̷w̵o̷n̷'̸t̶ ̶a̴f̵f̴e̵c̸t̸ ̶y̴o̴u̷.̵.̴.̵ ̴b̵u̸t̸ ̴i̷t̴ <b>̵d̷o̸e̶s̷</b> ̴a̵f̸f̷e̵c̷t̷ ̸m̴e̸.̵”</p><p> </p><p>“What? I don’t want you to gooooo....”Gooey complained ”why can’t it ever be a happy ending?”</p><p> </p><p>“I̵t̷ ̴i̶s̷,̵ ̸G̸o̸o̴e̶y̸,̵ ̷t̶h̵e̵ ̸m̷o̴s̸t̸ ̷t̷h̸r̶e̴a̵t̶e̶n̵i̴n̷g̵ ̵v̶i̴l̴l̵a̴i̴n̷ ̵i̸n̸ ̸t̸h̴e̶ ̷g̶a̷l̴a̷x̶y̴ ̸i̸s̵ ̷a̶l̸m̵o̶s̷t̸ ̵d̶e̵a̸d̶.̵ ̶T̶h̷e̶ ̴r̷e̵a̸s̶o̶n̵ ̸w̶h̸y̶ ̶I̷ ̵c̴a̶m̵e̴ ̶h̴e̴r̵e̶ ̶i̵s̷ ̵t̶o̵ ̸t̴e̸l̸l̵ ̸y̴o̵u̴ ̶t̷o̷ ̷a̷b̴o̴u̸t̴ ̶t̶h̴i̸s̷,̵ ̴I̸ ̵a̸m̶,̶ ̷m̵o̶s̸t̸ ̶l̶i̴k̸e̸l̷y̴,̴ ̸n̵o̶t̷ ̵g̸o̵i̵n̷g̷ ̴t̶o̷ ̵l̵a̶s̷t̶ ̷m̷u̷c̴h̶ ̵l̷o̶n̵g̴e̵r̸ ̷h̸e̸r̷e̷,̸ ̸s̶o̸m̶e̵o̵n̴e̸ ̶i̷s̴ ̸g̸o̵i̵n̷g̷ ̴t̶o̸ ̴k̸i̵l̴l̵ ̵m̶e̸,̴ ̶w̷h̴e̸t̷h̷e̶r̷ ̵i̷t̸ ̵b̸e̴ ̴G̸a̷l̶a̶c̵t̴a̵ ̴K̶n̸i̷g̶h̶t̷ ̸o̴r̷ ̵K̵i̶n̸g̷ ̵D̴e̷d̸e̶d̶e̸,̷ ̶m̷y̴ ̷t̶i̵m̵e̴ ̷i̵s̴ ̵l̷i̷m̶i̵t̶e̸d̴,̸ ̷s̸o̵ ̵G̵o̸o̵e̴y̴,̷ ̵I̸ ̵w̵a̶n̸t̸ ̵y̵o̸u̸ ̸t̵o̵ ̸d̶o̷ ̷o̷n̸e̷ ̶t̶h̸i̵n̵g̴ ̴f̶o̷r̷ ̶m̴e̸.̷.̶.̶ ̴o̷k̶a̵y̵?̴”</p><p> </p><p>Gooey, who was starting to tear up, muttered a simple “Y-yeah?”</p><p> </p><p>“D̸o̶n̵'̶t̶ ̵i̶d̵o̷l̴i̵z̷e̶ ̸m̶e̴.̷ ̶I̵ ̴w̷a̴s̸ ̸n̸o̸t̸ ̸a̶ ̷g̴o̸o̴d̴ ̴p̴e̴r̸s̴o̸n̵,̶ ̶I̴ ̸j̵u̵s̵t̸ ̶w̷a̸s̷n̵'̴t̸,̶ ̸I̶ ̶k̴n̴o̸w̸ ̶i̴t̸ ̸s̵e̵e̴m̵s̴ ̴c̵o̸u̷n̶t̸e̶r̵i̷n̵t̸u̴i̴t̴i̶v̷e̴,̶ ̴b̵u̵t̵,̸ ̴w̵h̴y̵ ̵b̸o̶t̵h̷e̸r̸ ̴t̵r̴y̷i̷n̶g̸ ̸t̴o̴ ̵t̶a̵k̸e̴ ̸o̴v̸e̵r̴ ̵t̵h̸e̶ ̵g̴a̶l̴a̸x̸y̵ ̵i̸f̴ ̵I̸ ̵k̴n̵o̸w̷ ̵I̵'̵m̸ ̶g̷o̶i̸n̶g̷ ̶t̶o̸ ̴l̵o̷s̵e̵?̵ ̸T̸h̵a̵t̶'̸s̴ ̸i̴n̸s̷a̶n̴i̷t̷y̶ ̸r̵i̶g̵h̴t̶ ̶t̶h̸e̴r̶e̵,̶ ̴d̴o̷i̸n̷g̵ ̷t̶h̶e̸ ̷s̷a̸m̴e̵ ̵t̷h̴i̸n̶g̶ ̵o̴v̶e̵r̶ ̵a̵n̵d̵ ̷o̵v̴e̵r̷ ̸a̶g̸a̴i̶n̵,̸ ̴a̶n̴d̵ ̴e̷x̷p̷e̴c̶t̷i̴n̶g̸ ̸s̷o̷m̷e̴t̷h̶i̵n̷g̸ ̸t̸o̵ ̷c̸h̴a̸n̵g̷e̸.̴ ̵W̷h̵e̸n̶ ̴I̵ ̵c̷e̵a̴s̸e̷ ̵t̵o̶ ̵e̴x̷i̷s̷t̵,̷ ̶G̶o̸o̴e̸y̶,̶ ̶I̷ ̷k̷n̶o̶w̷ ̶y̷o̷u̵ ̸t̶h̸i̴n̵k̵ ̴o̸f̶ ̷m̶e̶ ̴a̶s̵ ̷a̷n̷ ̷o̴l̵d̸e̴r̷ ̷s̵i̷b̶l̷i̸n̶g̸,̵ ̶b̷u̷t̴ ̸d̴o̷n̴'̶t̵,̷ ̴t̵h̸e̷r̵e̸'̴s̸ ̸n̴o̸ ̶w̸a̶y̶ ̵i̸n̵ ̴h̵e̵l̸l̵ ̴I̷ ̴w̶o̵n̴'̶t̸ ̴e̷n̴d̴ ̵u̴p̴ ̷i̶n̶,̸ ̴w̷e̸l̵l̸,̵ ̷h̸e̶l̴l̴,̴ ̵D̶a̸r̴k̸ ̵M̸a̵t̷t̵e̴r̷ ̵f̵a̷i̴l̵e̵d̶,̶ ̶b̴u̶t̸ ̶i̵f̶ ̴I̴ ̸c̵a̶n̸ ̵m̷a̶k̷e̸ ̷s̶u̶r̸e̸ ̸t̵h̴a̶t̷ ̵t̴h̷e̷ ̷o̸n̸e̶ ̴p̷i̸e̶c̸e̷ ̴o̸f̶ ̴D̴a̸r̷k̵ ̵M̴a̶t̴t̶e̶r̴ ̵w̶h̸o̸ ̸h̷a̸s̷ ̷c̴o̵n̷s̷i̷s̴t̷e̸n̴t̶l̶y̷ ̷s̵t̸a̴y̶e̴d̴ ̶h̶a̴p̴p̵y̶,̴ ̶s̸t̴a̸y̶s̷ ̵h̸a̴p̶p̶y̸,̴ ̷t̷h̴e̴n̷ ̴I̷'̷l̴l̴ ̸d̶i̷e̶ ̸a̶ ̴h̴a̸p̴p̸y̷ ̵v̵i̶l̵l̵a̴i̵n̸.̴”</p><p> </p><p>“B-b-but you don’t know if you’re going to die! J-just because the others were killed doesn’t mean you are!” Gooey pleaded.</p><p> </p><p>“G̶o̶o̵e̶y̸.̵.̷.̷ ̶I̷'̷m̸ ̴t̴h̴e̸ ̸l̶a̵s̶t̸ ̶r̶e̸m̸a̴i̸n̷i̴n̴g̸ ̵p̵i̷e̷c̶e̶ ̴o̵f̴ ̵a̶n̷ ̷e̴l̸d̸r̶i̸t̸c̴h̷ ̸h̴o̴r̷r̶o̷r̴,̴ ̴o̶f̷ ̴c̶o̶u̴r̴s̴e̸ ̸p̸e̷o̶p̸l̵e̸ ̷a̸r̴e̷ ̴g̷o̴n̴n̶a̶ ̷w̴a̷n̶t̷ ̵m̶e̷ ̵d̷e̷a̴d̸,̸ ̶I̴'̶v̶e̸ ̷c̴o̴n̸s̵i̷s̸t̴e̶n̶t̷l̷y̷ ̷r̸e̸m̵a̴i̸n̴e̴d̵ ̷t̶h̶e̷ ̵m̶o̷s̸t̴ ̶v̷i̶g̵i̸l̶a̶n̵t̸ ̷p̶i̷e̶c̸e̷ ̶o̸f̷ ̵D̶a̴r̶k̶ ̸M̴a̶t̶t̸e̷r̴,̶ ̴b̶o̵u̵n̵t̶y̸ ̴h̶u̷n̵t̵e̴r̷s̸ ̸a̶r̵e̸ ̴g̶o̷n̸n̴a̸ ̵w̵a̵n̵t̶ ̷m̵e̴ ̶d̵e̵a̵d̸.̷ ̴I̴'̴m̵ ̵s̵o̶r̷r̷y̶ ̴G̷o̶o̵e̵y̷,̴ ̴b̵u̴t̵ ̶t̷h̸a̸t̶'̴s̷ ̴j̴u̵s̴t̷ ̵t̶h̶e̶ ̶t̸r̴u̴t̷h̸.̶”</p><p> </p><p>Gooey jumped on DMS and snuggled up to them, simply muttering “no,” into their cloak.</p><p> </p><p>“I̸t̷'̶s̴ ̵g̶o̸n̵n̶a̷ ̵b̵e̷ ̷o̷k̴a̵y̴,̴ ̸G̶o̵o̵e̵y̵,̷ ̴I̴'̸l̵l̴ ̸m̴a̵k̷e̶ ̴s̷u̴r̵e̵ ̸m̷y̴ ̵l̸a̵s̶t̸ ̴l̸i̵v̸i̸n̶g̷ ̵w̵e̵e̵k̶s̴ ̵a̴r̴e̶ ̷w̸o̵r̴t̷h̷ ̴s̴o̵m̷e̶t̶h̶i̷n̸g̵,̷” Dark said, comforting Gooey.</p><p> </p><p>Dedede backed away from his hiding place, muttered a “holy shit,” and went back to the group.</p><p> </p><p>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</p><p> </p><p>“Ring-a-ding-ding! That’s the sweet, sweet sound of a tracked phone number,”Daroach sang.</p><p> </p><p>“Ring-a-ding-ding?” Prince Fluff questioned, “How many phone numbers have you tracked?”</p><p> </p><p>“Uhhh, yesn’t.”</p><p> </p><p>“What?”</p><p> </p><p>“I know where the phone is!” Daroach yelled, dodging Fluff’s question, “798 Flamestick Drive, Floralia, 543566”</p><p> </p><p>“Well we have an actual location now- Zan! ZAN! STAY IN THE TIME FIELD PLEASE!” Meta Knight worriedly said.</p><p> </p><p>“Fine, but this better go quick, I want to make sure the bastard that did this to Taranza <b> <em>SUFFERS</em> </b>,” Zan growled.</p><p> </p><p>Fluff leaned closer to Flamberge and whispered “That’s your sister?”</p><p> </p><p>“Yeah.”</p><p> </p><p>“I’m scared of her.”</p><p> </p><p>“That’s a relatively normal response.”</p><p> </p><p>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</p><p> </p><p>“LET ME OUT OF HERE YOU BASTARD!” Galacta Knight screamed.</p><p> </p><p>“Why does everyone keep calling me a bastard? I’m not <em> that </em>evil!”</p><p> </p><p>“YOU’VE KIDNAPPED ME!”</p><p> </p><p>“Compared to the things some of my friends have done? I’m a saint.”</p><p> </p><p>“You act as if they’ll still be your friends when this is over,” Galacta remarked.</p><p> </p><p>“...I’ll… cross that bridge when I get there, for now, let’s rewind time a little shall we?”</p><p> </p><p>“What are you-”</p><p> </p><p>“Tell me, Galacta, do you remember <b> <em>Morpho Knight?</em> </b>”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Though in all seriousness I do have a lot of trouble writing all the characters listed in the summary so they're probably not gonna get chapters dedicated to them, which his a shame because I like those characters, namely Rick and Bandana</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Into The Labyrinth</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Marx has been feeling a little down lately, damn shame that he won't have time to fix that when old memories are brought back.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It had been a bad few days for Marx.</p><p> </p><p>He just wanted to mess around with his friends, and instead he was thrust into an adventure he really had no place in. This was Kirby’s, D3’s, Meta’s, Bandana’s, and Magolor’s adventure! Not his! Though, it did get a little more personal when they kidnapped Magolor, THAT’s when it became Marx’s problem, but he was still fine! He had no obligation! None at all!</p><p> </p><p>Okay maybe he was just a little annoyed that no one was paying attention to him.</p><p> </p><p>I mean come on! He works this hard to make people laugh and he’s written off as the “annoying jester” by those who have no taste in comedy! He isn’t <em> that </em>annoying! Right?</p><p> </p><p>...right?</p><p> </p><p>“Right,” Marx said, agreeing with the narrator, “I can’t be <em> that </em> annoying, I mean, I’m a jester! We’re meant to be funny!”</p><p> </p><p>“Really? Is that why you annoy everyone around you?” Dark Meta Knight, snarkily asked, eavesdropping on Marx.</p><p> </p><p>“S-shut up,” Marx grumbled.</p><p> </p><p>“I mean, what good is a jester that isn’t funny?” Dark angrily growled at Marx, ”that’s like a chef that can’t cook!”</p><p> </p><p>“<b> <em>Be quiet.</em> </b>” </p><p> </p><p>“Seriously-”</p><p> </p><p>“OKAY DARK, I think that’s enough!” Adeleine said, pushing Dark Meta away. After dealing with that, she looked sympathetically over at Marx “Hey Marx?”</p><p> </p><p>Marx glanced over at her “What?” he grumbled.</p><p> </p><p>“You okay?”</p><p> </p><p>“Oh, yeah, perfectly fine, why do you ask?” Marx sarcastically snarked.</p><p> </p><p>Adeleine sighed and walked closer, “Marx, I’m being serious, are you okay?”</p><p> </p><p>Marx looked at the artist, sighed, and simply said, “not really…”</p><p> </p><p>“Well, how can I help?”</p><p> </p><p>Marx thought for a moment, and asked, “I need you to answer me honestly, am I funny?”</p><p> </p><p>“Of course you are! You make me laugh all the time!”</p><p> </p><p>“I didn’t ask if you find me funny, I asked if I’m funny.”</p><p> </p><p>After a brief pause, Adeleine shook her head and said, “Marx, remember when I was upset that my painting didn’t win that one art contest a few years ago?”</p><p> </p><p>Marx did, Adeleine was face-down on the ground crying, Marx got her up and asked about it, asked her whats wrong, and when she told him he said-</p><p> </p><p>“And remember when you told me that  art is subjective? And that it’s impossible to please everyone, so make art for the people who do like my art?”</p><p> </p><p>“Well, yeah-”</p><p> </p><p>“Same thing applies Marx, comedy is subjective, and, well, I find you funny! So does Kirby! Magolor does, Coo does, and let’s be real, Dark Meta hates everything-”</p><p> </p><p>“I don’t hate everything,” Dark Meta said, walking towards Marx and Addie.</p><p> </p><p>“What do you want?” Marx snapped.</p><p> </p><p>“I want to inform you that that wasn’t me who insulted you Marx, that would’ve been one of my clones.”</p><p> </p><p>“Your clones?”</p><p> </p><p>“Yes, I can make reflections of myself and have them run around,” Dark Meta explained.</p><p> </p><p>“Well why don’t you do that more often?” Adeleine asked, interested.</p><p> </p><p>“Well… remember how Susie told us to never clone a clone?”</p><p> </p><p>“Yeah?”</p><p> </p><p>“Well whenever I duplicate myself I’m making a reflection of a reflection, they tend to turn out wonky, sometime even meaner than I am.”</p><p> </p><p>“...Why are you acting so nice suddenly?” Marx asked.</p><p> </p><p>“...”</p><p> </p><p>“Dark?”</p><p> </p><p>Dark Meta looked down, “...Meta Knight said if I don’t start playing nice he’s gonna put me back in the mirror,” he explained,defeated.</p><p> </p><p>“Oh, so, wait, was that actually a clone orrr-”</p><p> </p><p>“Oh no that was a clone, don’t worry, even I can’t keep track of all of them, I think there’s a few running around across the galaxy.”</p><p> </p><p>“Really?”</p><p> </p><p>“Yeah, I know there’s one back on Caverna, I think there’s two or so in Floralia, and I believe another is back in Castle Dedede”</p><p> </p><p>“D̵i̴d̵ ̸s̵o̶m̵e̷o̷n̵e̷ ̷c̸a̸l̵l̸ ̵m̷e̷?̷” Dark Matter asked, floating into the area.</p><p> </p><p>“Noooooo?” Adeleine confusidely answered.</p><p> </p><p>“O̴h̷,̵ ̸I̷ ̶j̵u̶s̷t̴ ̸h̶e̷a̵r̵d̸ ̷s̴o̴m̶e̷o̸n̸e̶ ̷s̶c̸r̴e̴a̶m̴ ̵'̶D̷A̸R̶K̵'̴ ̶a̷n̶d̶ ̸n̶o̵r̷m̴a̷l̵l̶y̷ ̶t̶h̸a̷t̸ ̵m̶e̸a̷n̴s̶ ̴m̵e̶”</p><p> </p><p>“Oh no we were talking about Dark <em> Meta </em> not Dark <em> Matter </em>.”</p><p> </p><p>“O̴h̷ ̴t̷h̴a̴t̴ ̷m̵a̸k̸e̷s̵ ̶s̷e̶n̷s̵e̸,̵ ̵w̴h̸a̵t̷ ̸w̷e̷r̷e̵ ̷y̶o̶u̷ ̸t̷a̸l̵k̷i̶n̸g̴ ̵a̴b̷o̸u̶t̶ ̴a̵n̴y̶w̷a̷y̴?̵”</p><p> </p><p>“One of Dark Meta’s clones insulted Marx.”</p><p> </p><p>“O̶h̶ ̷y̵o̶u̸ ̴c̸a̶n̷ ̶c̷l̵o̶n̷e̵ ̶y̶o̴u̴r̶s̸e̵l̶f̸ ̷t̷o̵o̶?̵”</p><p> </p><p>“You can clone yourself?” Dark Meta asked.</p><p> </p><p>“O̵h̵ ̵y̵e̵s̷!̷ ̵I̷ ̷h̸a̵v̵e̷ ̶a̵ ̵b̸u̵n̵c̶h̴ ̷s̵c̵a̵t̴t̸e̴r̷e̸d̶ ̷t̴h̷r̸o̶u̴g̵h̷o̴u̸t̸ ̶P̷o̷p̸s̴t̷a̴r̴,̵ ̸m̵o̸s̷t̷ ̵l̸i̷k̵e̵l̴y̴ ̶c̶o̶m̸m̶i̵t̶t̷i̸n̵g̴ ̸m̶o̴r̴a̷l̵ ̴a̵t̷r̸o̷c̴i̴t̶i̷e̸s̴.̶”</p><p> </p><p>“Well then why don’t you get rid of them?” Marx questioned.</p><p> </p><p>Dark Matter paused, “.̴.̶.̴I̶ ̸d̵u̵n̸n̷o̴ ̴h̵o̸w̶.̴”</p><p> </p><p>“W-what do you mean you <em> don’t know how? </em>”</p><p> </p><p>“I̷ ̸m̴e̷a̸n̴ ̶I̵ ̵d̶o̸n̵'̸t̸ ̶k̵n̴o̸w̸ ̷h̷o̵w̵!̶ ̷0̴ ̴t̵a̸u̴g̷h̷t̵ ̵m̶e̶ ̷h̴o̷w̶ ̵t̸o̷ ̸d̸o̵ ̷i̷t̶ ̸b̶u̸t̸ ̸n̶o̸t̴ ̶h̸o̶w̷ ̴t̵o̶ ̷g̴e̴t̴ ̷r̸i̵d̶ ̸o̴f̴ ̵t̷h̶e̶m̷!̸”</p><p> </p><p>“Wow, just wow, the scourge of the Gamble Galaxy everybody,” Marx snarked, gesturing to DMS with his wing.</p><p> </p><p>“H̸e̷y̸,̷ ̴t̸o̷ ̶b̵e̵ ̶f̵a̵i̷r̷,̶ ̸G̷o̴o̵e̸y̷ ̵c̷a̷n̷ ̶d̸o̸ ̵i̴t̴ ̶t̸o̷o̵ ̸b̶u̷t̶ ̵t̴h̶e̸y̴ ̷d̶o̵n̵'̶t̷ ̶k̸n̵o̸w̶ ̴t̵h̷a̵t̷.̸”</p><p> </p><p>“WaitwaitwaitwaitwaitwaitwaitwaitwaitwaitwaitwaitwaitwaitWAIT Gooey can clone themself!?!?”</p><p> </p><p>“I̴ ̷m̸e̴a̶n̸.̷.̵.̷ ̸y̵e̸a̸h̷?̵ ̶I̶'̵m̶ ̴d̶a̸r̶k̷ ̴m̷a̵t̴t̴e̵r̵,̸ ̵G̶o̸o̵e̶y̷ ̷i̸s̵ ̷d̶a̵r̵k̴ ̷m̴a̶t̴t̴e̷r̶,̶ ̷I̶ ̶c̸a̵n̸ ̵c̵l̷o̷n̸e̵ ̷m̷y̶s̵e̷l̸f̷,̶ ̵s̸o̷ ̷G̶o̶o̸e̷y̵ ̷c̵a̷n̸ ̴c̵l̶o̷n̴e̷ ̵t̵h̸e̸m̴s̶e̵l̶f̷.̸”</p><p> </p><p>“Hey I’m sure this chat has been fun and all,” Daroach started, popping in, “but we’re leaving now, so… hurry up.”</p><p> </p><p>“Have we really been talking for that long?” Adeleine asked.</p><p> </p><p>“It’s been 5 hours.”</p><p> </p><p>“…”</p><p> </p><p>“Dear Nova,” Marx commented.</p><p> </p><p>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</p><p> </p><p>Walking up a trail of clouds, Fluff began to take notice of the rather odd people around him, there were swordsmen, kings, humans, fairies, rats, it seems everyone Kirby’s ever met was here, which was impressive.</p><p> </p><p>“And then, Daroach threw a giant fire bomb! At me! The FIRE mage!” Flamberge exclaimed, continuing a conversation Fluff was too polite to end.</p><p> </p><p>Hey, hey! In my defense, it was a stressful situation!” Daroach claimed.</p><p> </p><p>“Sure, we’ll go with that,” Dark Meta commented, chuckling.</p><p> </p><p>“WHO’S SIDE ARE YOU ON?”</p><p> </p><p>“The winning one!”</p><p> </p><p>“Hey, uh, so, seeing this is my first time meeting you all, and I got a feeling we all have one thing in common, how'd you all meet Kirby and when did he become your friend?” Fluff asked.</p><p> </p><p>“Well, we’ve been his friends since day 2!” Rick replied.</p><p> </p><p>“Poyo!”</p><p> </p><p>“Yeah, good old Dark Matter here possessed Dedede and tried to take over the kingdom, so me, Rick, and Kine helped Kirby beat him up,” Coo added.</p><p> </p><p>“Kirby Met Me when big mean 0 was trying to take over Dreamland!!!!!” Gooey exclaimed.</p><p> </p><p>Dedede leaned towards Dark Matter, “Should we tell em?”</p><p> </p><p>“N̴a̴h̴ ̵t̵h̴e̷y̸'̴l̵l̷ ̷f̸i̷g̶u̶r̶e̸ ̶i̸t̴ ̴o̵u̴t̵ ̶w̵h̸e̵n̵ ̴t̵h̸e̷y̶'̸r̶e̴ ̶o̶l̵d̴e̴r̵.̷”</p><p> </p><p>“Oh and uh, can we chat for a moment?” Dedede asked, walking a little away from the group.</p><p> </p><p>“U̶h̴h̵h̶,̷ ̸s̶u̵r̶e̴ ̴I̵ ̸g̵u̶e̴s̸s̴,̵” Dark Matter replied, concerned.</p><p> </p><p>“This is the part where Dark Matter dies,” Marx joked.</p><p> </p><p>“Nooooo!!!!! Don’t do that!!!!!” Gooey cried.</p><p> </p><p>“It was just- y’know what? Nevermind.”</p><p> </p><p>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</p><p> </p><p>“S̷o̵ ̵a̶r̴e̶ ̵y̶o̵u̶ ̵g̶o̸i̶n̵g̴ ̶t̶o̷ ̸k̷i̶l̵l̶ ̷m̵e̷ ̶n̵o̷w̴?̴”</p><p> </p><p>“No I just have a question for you,” Dedede responded.</p><p> </p><p>“A̷l̶r̶i̷g̸h̶t̴,̷ ̷w̶h̴a̷t̸?̵”</p><p> </p><p>“Were you lying to Gooey when you said you were the last piece of Dark Matter?”</p><p> </p><p>Dark Matter froze, “I̸-̷ ̵W̶h̸-̸ ̵H̴-̷h̶o̶w̴ ̸d̴i̸d̵-̵”</p><p> </p><p>“Your ‘discreet conversation’ was pretty obvious to hear, it’s not inconspicuous when you see the lord of evil leave with a blob of goo,” Dedede explained.</p><p> </p><p>Dark Matter sat down on a rock and sighed, “F̷i̶n̷e̷,̵ ̵y̸e̶s̸,̴ ̷i̵t̸'̷s̶ ̸t̷r̴u̸e̷,̵ ̶I̶'̸m̵ ̸t̸h̸e̵ ̷l̷a̴s̸t̶ ̵o̷n̸e̸,̴ ̵I̷ ̸s̸u̸p̶p̷o̵s̶e̴ ̴T̴H̷I̶S̸ ̷i̵s̶ ̴t̷h̵e̴ ̵p̶a̶r̵t̵ ̵w̴h̶e̵r̸e̸ ̸I̴ ̵d̶i̵e̸?̶ ̶A̷n̷d̷ ̷y̴o̷u̶ ̵e̵r̸a̷d̸i̵c̷a̸t̸e̴ ̵t̷h̷e̵ ̸s̴c̸o̷u̶r̷g̴e̴ ̴o̵f̶ ̸t̴h̴e̵ ̸G̵a̴m̶b̷l̸e̴ ̴G̵a̸l̸a̸x̵y̶?̶”</p><p> </p><p>“Actually,” Dedede started, “I’m doing the exact opposite.”</p><p> </p><p>“W̷h̷at?”</p><p> </p><p>“Now do not take this the wrong way, I don’t like you, you’ve possessed me countless times, but, Gooey does like you, and I’m not enough of a bastard to make Gooey sad,” Dedede explained, “so, as long as you stay on good behavior, I’ll have you pardoned so you can look after Gooey.”</p><p> </p><p>“I-I-I don’t know what to say!”</p><p> </p><p>“Try ‘thank you’,” Dedede joked.</p><p> </p><p>Dark Matter chucked, “Then, thank you, Dedede, I won’t waste this.”</p><p> </p><p>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</p><p> </p><p>“Geez a lot of you have been possessed,” Prince Fluff commented.</p><p> </p><p>“Oh yeah, happens all the time, guess that’s just the price you pay for saving the world and being Kirby’s friend,” Daroach replied, “Anyway, how’d you and Kirby meet?”</p><p> </p><p>“Oh, well, Kirby got kidnapped by the most annoying thorn in my side ever, Yin-Yarn, and was taken to Patchland, where he met me.”</p><p> </p><p>“Poyo!” Kirby confirmed.</p><p> </p><p>“Yeah, we beat him into next week,” Prince Fluff confidently claimed.</p><p> </p><p>“Well, it seems we’ve arrived,” Flamberge commented, staring at the building before them.</p><p> </p><p>“Wow I can’t believe we all managed to make it here perfectly fine,” Marx said looking at the house that the perpetrator was supposedly living in.</p><p> </p><p>“...yeah… why are you saying that like we didn’t?” Dedede asked, out of breath.</p><p> </p><p>“Good question.”</p><p> </p><p>“<b>LEAVE</b>” a deep voice yelled.</p><p> </p><p>“WOAH WHAT THE FUCK!?” Daroach screamed.</p><p> </p><p>“I DON’T WANT YOU HERE, AND TRUST ME, YOU DON’T WANNA BE HERE EITHER”</p><p> </p><p>“<b>LISTEN HERE YOU SOULLESS FUCKING BASTARD!</b> ” Zan screamed at the top of her lungs. “ <b>I DON’T CARE WHAT IT FUCKING TAKES, I’M GOING TO KILL YOU, I’M GOING TO TEAR YOU TO FUCKING PIECES AND YOU WILL SUFFER FOR WHAT YOU’VE DONE, YOU BETTER PRAY ONE OF THE OTHERS FIND YOU BEFORE I DO.</b>”</p><p> </p><p>The voice got a little quieter, mumbled something inaudible and simply said;</p><p> </p><p>“<em> I’m sorry. </em>”</p><p> </p><p>The Star Allies then proceeded to be teleported to a dark room, it was tinted purple and it looked like the walls were moving, and it looked like a galaxy was inside of them, all the walls had at least one hall connected to them, the halls had signs above them that read KD, KA, KSSU, KD2, KSS, KD3, K64, KATAM, KSSq, KRTD, KTD, KPR, KSA, and KEY respectively.</p><p> </p><p>“Well that’s… ominous,” Rick commented.</p><p> </p><p>“<b>Welcome to the Time Labyrinth everybody! Make yourself at home, preferably for… what is it? 3 HOURS!? DEAR NOVA HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE FOR THIS THING TO CHARGE!?</b></p><p> </p><p>“Three hours,” a faint voice said in the background of the speaker.</p><p> </p><p>“SHUT UP MAGOLOR!”</p><p> </p><p>“Wait is that mic on?” Magolor asked.</p><p> </p><p>“Uhhh no-” the voice was cut off by the mic being turned off.</p><p> </p><p>“Wait… if Magolor’s there then…” Francisca muttered before realizing something, “TARANZA AND SUSIE ARE STILL ALIVE!”</p><p> </p><p>“OH THANK THE VOID!” Zan yelled, before announcing something, “with the tone being lightened significantly by that, I will say that I think we have to go through all these doors to get  to them.”</p><p> </p><p>“Well… who goes first to test that theory?” Bandana asked.</p><p> </p><p>All eyes went to Marx.</p><p> </p><p>“<b> <em>Sigh</em> </b> fine I’ll be the sacrifice,” Marx groaned, walking towards the hall that said “KSS” over it.</p><p> </p><p>Before he went in Adeleine whispered “I believe in you,” which got a smile out of Marx.</p><p> </p><p>Walking down the hall, several images started to appear on the walls, the first of which was a picture of the Megaton Punch championship, specifically the image of Kirby beating Bandana.</p><p> </p><p>*Bandana’s come really far hasn’t he?* Marx thought, on the opposite wall, Marx saw the second image, one of Kirby going through the Great Cave Offensive, specifically, Kirby struggling to grab the katana. Marx giggled at the memory, Kirby complained about that treasure all the time, to the best of his ability, of course. Image number three was the time Kirby fought and defeated Dynablade, specifically him watching Dynablade and her babies fly into the sunset. *Waitaminute* Marx thought, noticing a common theme here, his suspicions got even worse when he saw an image of the Gourmet Race between Kirby and King Dedede. *No… these aren’t..* before he got a chance to finish that thought, he saw a picture of the Meta-Knights fighting Kirby, it was at this moment Marx realized the common theme these pictures shared.</p><p> </p><p>These pictures were all from days before the sun and moon fought.</p><p> </p><p>Before Marx caused them to fight.</p><p> </p><p>Before Marx fought Kirby.</p><p> </p><p>And his realization was confirmed with the last picture.</p><p> </p><p>It was simple, it was of Marx, spreading with wings, laughing like a maniac, staring down at Kirby with evil glee in his eyes.</p><p> </p><p>Marx didn’t like that picture.</p><p> </p><p>Marx found the end of the hall and it was a simple room, same as everything else, floating down the door behind Marx closed, and he looked over to see the perpetrator themself. He couldn’t really make out any details, they were hiding in the dark, but he did make some things out, firstly they were spherical in some form (I mean, this is Dreamland, everyone’s spherical but go off Marx) and he was spiky, he didn’t get the chance to make anything else out as the villain pulled out the Time Breaker and and activated it, after a flash of white Marx didn’t see the villain, or the Time Breaker, to be honest, he didn’t see anything new.</p><p> </p><p>But he heard it though.</p><p> </p><p>“Heeheeheeheeheeheehee.” a taunting voice laughed, Marx recognized it instantly, I mean why would he?</p><p> </p><p>It was <b> <em>his</em> </b> laugh.</p><p> </p><p>Turning around Marx came face to face with, well… Marx. More specifically, Marx from 24 years ago.</p><p> </p><p>“Well if it isn’t me? How have I been? Did I conquer Popstar?” Past-Marx excitedly asked.</p><p> </p><p>“Well, no-”</p><p> </p><p>“SHUT UP! I already know the outcome! I lost and ended up becoming friends with that puffball, blah, blah, blah,” Past-Marx mocked.</p><p> </p><p>“How do you know that?” current Marx questioned.</p><p> </p><p>“Well you see, some guy with a cool cloak-thing came up to me and said ‘hey, I need you to beat some people up for me’ and I said ‘cool, who do I need to beat up’ and he said ‘you but in the future’ and when I asked why he said I became a goody-two-shoes hero.”</p><p> </p><p>“Well you don’t really-”</p><p> </p><p>Marx was cut off by being thrown into the wall by light arrows.</p><p> </p><p>“I mean, I hate to hurt somebody as amazing as me, but I’m getting paid! So sorry me! <b>THIS IS GONNA HURT! HEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEE</b>” Past-Marx maliciously cackled.</p><p>“Was I always this much of an ass?” Current-Marx asked, retaliating with a megaspin, knocking his past-self back.</p><p> </p><p>“Depends, am I still an ass?” Past-Marx devilishly questioned, before sending out some cutter projectiles at Current-Marx, who dodged by going in the ground and appearing under Past-Marx, who got hit with the ambush.</p><p> </p><p>“Cheap trick!”</p><p> </p><p>“Cheap hat.”</p><p> </p><p>“So is yours!”</p><p> </p><p>“Nah Mags made me this one, the old one didn’t survive the epicenter of a fucking explosion,” Current-Marx snarked, throwing his ball at Past-Marx.</p><p> </p><p>“Who the hell is ‘Mags’?” Past-Marx growled before proceeding to grow cactus trees in the middle of the arena.</p><p> </p><p>“Someone just as bad as us, but somehow makes life a little more worth living,” Marx smiled, realizing he had gained the upper hand in the battle, he started to silently charge his black hole attack, unbeknownst to him, Past-Marx was planning the same thing. “SAYONARA, FAKER!” both Marxes yelled, releasing their black holes at the same time, it should’ve ended reality, two black holes being that close.</p><p> </p><p>Luckily for Current-Marx, experience and time made his black hole a little stronger.</p><p> </p><p>“OH NOVADAM-” Past-Marx started, before being sucked into his own ultimate move, after being messed up, Past-Marx was sent flying out of the black hole and ping-ponged around the arena, before losing his wings and falling face down on the ground.</p><p> </p><p>“Hey this won’t break time or anything right?” Marx joked.</p><p> </p><p>“Go fuck yourself,” his past-self growled, before glowing white and disappearing, in his place was an emblem that read “Galactic Ambition” on it, satisfied with his work, Marx flew back to his friends.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Phenomenal. This chapter manages to be the longest one, yet still feels like it moves too damn quickly.</p><p>Edit: I made the executive decision to become a better author and added the scene after the opening conversation, gives Fluff a longer word count, and a nice moment between D3 and DMS</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Not Today, But Yesterday</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Our heroes has to get the door to the villain's base open, only way through is to face old demons, featuring a new contender in the ring, welcome to the show Morpho.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Oh boy writing this was suffering.</p><p>Of course, I do love writing this, but the nonstop swapping to cutscenes and bosses and trying to understand important parts of a game I haven't played? Not too fun.</p><p>I doubled the word count which was fun.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“I refuse.”</p><p> </p><p>“Morpho, please, you have to listen to me-”</p><p> </p><p>“No, it is against the natural order,” Morpho Knight stated, they had been summoned by some random villain character to carry out some bullshit that was against everything Morpho’s lived by, though they could’ve sworn this villain looked familiar...</p><p> </p><p>“I did not kidnap the Greatest Warrior in the Galaxy just for you to say no!”</p><p> </p><p>“Firstly, still no, secondly, I did not force you to kidnap Galacta Knight.”</p><p> </p><p>“It’s not my fault Galacta is the only person that can be possessed by you without being torn apart!”</p><p> </p><p>“You know what? You’re wasting my time, thank you for the body, but I will not let this continue,” The God of Death stated, starting to walk towards the door.</p><p> </p><p>After a brief pause, the villain looked up and asked, “What if I give my life for it!?”</p><p> </p><p>Morpho paused, turned around, and said, “If you have yourself killed before the end of the day, I will finish this for you.”</p><p> </p><p>“Deal.”</p><p> </p><p>Morpho walked back towards the villain, who opened a gateway towards their base of operations, before walking in, Morpho said, “I hope you know what you’re doing,” and walked inside.</p><p> </p><p>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</p><p> </p><p>Prince Fluff wasn’t exactly the happiest guy in the world right now.</p><p> </p><p>Ripped from Patchland, trapped in a fucking tickle bubble, has to team with the ass that  put them there, and worst of all? He can’t team with Kirby, the only person here he knows and understands.</p><p> </p><p>Like, with the exception of DMS, who can fuck off, they’re all fine people but… he doesn’t know any of them, the only one he’s had a real positive interaction with is Flamberge, and while she’s definitely a nice person to be around (Fluff was actually planning on inviting her for some coffee in Patchland after this was over) but the rest of these people? Some were criminals that scared him, some were stoic knights that didn’t care about him, others seemed like nice people but were clearly not in the mood to talk.</p><p> </p><p>And then there’s Kirby.</p><p> </p><p>Kirby was the only friend of Prince Fluff, just in general, well, there was that nice Drawcia lady, but they talked like, five times in the last two years. So Kirby was essentially the one person he knew here, and even then they hadn’t talked in (regrettably) ten years. Prince Fluff only really knew of Dedede and Meta Knight from things Kirby had told him, he had no idea who the rest of these people were!</p><p> </p><p>It didn’t help that Kirby was also kinda cute.</p><p> </p><p>Yeah… on top of not being able to talk to Kirby, he had also gained a crush on the puffball.</p><p> </p><p>Yay.</p><p> </p><p>Prince Fluff sat there, staring at the others around him, Meta Knight and Dedede were analyzing some kind of weird door, Flamberge and her sisters were talking about something seemingly serious, that Daroach character was talking to what looked like an edgier Meta Knight, Dark Matter was talking with some blob, an artist, and a fairy. They all looked content, happy with their lives, like this wasn’t a big adventure, a mere inconvenience.</p><p> </p><p>Prince Fluff envied this, the idea of not wanting adventure, what an amazing concept.</p><p> </p><p>“Well that was miserable!” The noddy Prince Fluff didn’t really know claimed, walking back into the main chamber.</p><p> </p><p>*Since when do noddies have wings? And do anything other than sleep?”* Fluff thought.</p><p> </p><p>“Oh! Marx!” the painter exclaimed, “you’re back! What happened in there?”</p><p> </p><p>“Me happened.”</p><p> </p><p>“W-what?”</p><p> </p><p>“I walked in there and some dude with a blue orb was there, they disappeared, and then I was there!” Marx said, “Apparently the dude dragged me from when I first fought Kirby to this time, and had us fight.”</p><p> </p><p>“Hmm, interesting, anything else?” Meta questioned.</p><p> </p><p>“Yeah when I fucking killed me I dropped this amulet thing,” Marx joked, pulling out the emblem.</p><p> </p><p>“Wait… let me see that,” Meta commented, holding out his hand, Marx handed Meta the emblem with his wing, and Meta inspected it, he then looked at the door he and Dedede were inspecting, walking towards it the emblem was ripped out of his hands and moved to one of the slots in the door. “Well that’s new,” Meta said.</p><p> </p><p>“Looks like we need all of the emblem things to open it,” Flamberge’s yellow-haired sister noted.</p><p> </p><p>“Well if there’s a fight behind all these doors, we should team up,” Fluff added.</p><p> </p><p>“That would be the wise decision,” Meta replied.</p><p> </p><p>“Alrighty then, why not just take Kirby and guarantee a victory?” Daroach questioned.</p><p> </p><p>“Because I tried, you can’t go in certain halls,” Francisca said, pointing to the hall that said KEY above it, “I tried to go in there but it wouldn’t let me,” she put her hand in the hall to demonstrate, a forcefield kept her from going further.</p><p> </p><p>Looking at this, Fluff couldn’t help but feel KEY felt familiar to him, walking towards the hall, Fluff found he could walk through, turning around he commented “Welp, looks like this one’s mine, you might want to send others down other halls too, just to speed things up,” then walked through the hall.</p><p> </p><p>Looking around, Fluff saw some familiar events, first was his first ever meeting with Kirby, when Kirby saved him from a Uniclod, second up was an image of Kirby and Fluff fighting Fangora, *<em> hmm, guess these are all from Kirby’s first visit </em> * the prince thought, what did Marx say he fought again? Whatever, doesn’t matter, looking at a third picture, Fluff saw an image of him and Kirby fighting the Great Squashini, after that fight Fluff took a lifelong vow to never gamble. Walking past that the prince saw picture number four, one of him and Kirby fighting Dedede, which was Fluff’s one interaction with the penguin, they never really talked, and Dedede was also possessed, which was unfortunate. For picture number five Fluff saw a picture of him and Kirby vs Meta Knight, shame, his few interactions with someone who seemed nice was on the opposite side of the battlefield * <em> What madman hands a minor a sword though? </em> * Fluff thought. Fluff looked in front of him and saw a gateway that lead into a big room, above the gateway was a picture of Kirby and Fluff vs Yin-Yarn, * <em> If I ever have to see him again it’ll be too soon </em> *, walking into the big room, Fluff looked around, it was a little spacious, had a nice window view, and also a manichal madman made of craftwork. * <em> I just HAD to think it didn’t I? </em>” Fluff mentally groaned, staring down Yin-Yarn.</p><p> </p><p>“Well, well, well, if it isn’t the land-grabbing lummox,” Prince Fluff commented, dropping down to the floor from the gateway, catching Yin-Yarn’s attention, “how’s banishment been treating ya’? Hopefully awfully.”</p><p> </p><p>Yin-Yarn laughed, “Depends, how much longer will I still be banished?”</p><p> </p><p>“It’s a life sentence, Yin-Yarn.”</p><p> </p><p>“You don’t clarify WHO’s life has to end, Prince Fluff.”</p><p> </p><p>Fluff groaned, “I’ve beat you before, I’ll beat you again.”</p><p> </p><p>“Okay, maybe you’ll beat me, but what about <em> them? </em> ” Yin-Yarn sneered, holding out his sewing needles, “ <em> They </em> might want a word, whether or not that word snips your face is irrelevant!”</p><p> </p><p>A voice came over the loudspeaker, “Just fight already you fucking dorks.”</p><p> </p><p>“Morpho, I thought I told you to not use the intercom!”</p><p> </p><p>“Oh you did, I just didn’t care bit-” Morpho started, getting cut off.</p><p> </p><p>“Morpho? That’s a new-” Fluff started, getting cut off by Yin-Yarn stitching up a copy of Hot Wings, and disappearing to let Fluff deal with it, “coward.”</p><p> </p><p>Hot Wings roared at Fluff and shot some phoenix minions out at the royal, without batting an eye Fluff lassoed the birds and threw them back at the big bird. Fluff then proceeded to lasso Hot Wings by the neck and slam them over and over again on the floor, throwing the bird on the wall, Hot Wings got a little dazed, before growing their wings back and flying back at Fluff, breathing fireballs on him, Fluff got some modest usage out of his care form to dodge the fire balls, Hot Wings decided it would be a good idea to throw out more phoenixes, Fluff responded to the stupid move by lassoing all six and throwing them at the big bird. Fluff once again chucked the bird around a little bit before throwing it at the wall and it… broke.</p><p> </p><p>“Huh, guess I got a little stronger,” Fluff commented, surprised he killed the bird that  quick, “now come on out Yin-Yarn! I know you’re still here!”</p><p> </p><p>“Am I? Or was I just a figment of your imagination?” Yin-Yarn chuckled.</p><p> </p><p>“I can still see you.”</p><p> </p><p>“No you can’t,” Yin-Yarn remarked, knitting an anvil over Fluff’s head, Fluff dodged out of the way, “I mean it’s hard to see me when you’re dead!”</p><p> </p><p>“You’re little more than a campy supervillain I would expect to see in a game, comic, or bad fanfiction” Prince Fluff mocked (nobody tell him), “you aren’t going to kill me.”</p><p> </p><p>“You think I’m a supervillain? How kind!” Yin-Yarn commented, beginning to knit a familiar weapon.</p><p> </p><p>“There’s the tank, you predictable cotton ball,” Prince Fluff snarked, “all I need to do is turn into my tank and you’ll lose, just let me- ...wait.”</p><p> </p><p>“That’s right Fluffy, there’s no metamortex, no tank, no cop-out,” Yin-Yarn giggled, “no Kirby, and no way out.”</p><p> </p><p>Fluff looked into Yin-Yarns eyes and muttered a simple;</p><p> </p><p>“Oh shit.”</p><p> </p><p>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</p><p> </p><p>Daroach dragged his hand across the halls until his hand fell through. Looking up he saw the sign read “KSSq”,.</p><p>“Why did I get the lowercase letter?” he joked, walking through, “see y'all on the flipside.”</p><p> </p><p>Walking through the hall, Daroach saw some familiar images, firstly was when he stole Kirby’s cake, Daroach chuckled at the memory, they always joked about how “Kirby has killed gods over cake”. Second was an image of Kirby beating up Dedede, poor guy, always gets blamed the second something goes wrong. Third was an image of Doc piloting Yadogaine, he always bragged about how that was his “greatest invention”, always conveniently forgot to mention Kirby tore through it like paper. Fourth was his fight with Kirby, Daroach giggled, Kirby always complained about Daroach “teleport spamming” but if you saw a hammer going towards your face and you had the option to dodge instantly, wouldn’t you take it, Daroach thought back and remembered Meta stealing the chest so it couldn’t possess him, I mean, he could’ve at least told him! Fifth was the image of the aforementioned possession, when Daroach opened the chest, that’s essentially been one of the four times Daroach felt real fear, the others being Doc’s spaceship blowing up during an excursion, Spinni getting caught in a bear trap, and… hearing Magolor, Taranza, and Susie had been kidnapped, so he cared about them, he wasn’t made of stone! Lastly was an image of Dark Daroach, with Dark Nebula looming in the distance, he wished he could’ve killed that thing himself for possessing him. Daroach made it to the end of the hall and jumped down, seeing a hologram of what was supposedly his enemy.</p><p> </p><p>“Cute trick,” he commented, “if I hadn’t’ve seen it a million times I would’ve been impressed.”</p><p> </p><p>The hologram dissipated and a voice over the loudspeaker commented “Daroach, I’m not stupid enough to actually go down there-”</p><p> </p><p>“How do you know my name?” Daroach asked, “this is our first talk, how do you know my name?”</p><p> </p><p>“DARAOCH!” was yelled over the loudspeaker by Susie in the background, “IF YOU CAN HEAR ME THE VILLAIN- AHH!” she screamed.</p><p> </p><p>“Susie, I’ve kept you up here for the privilege of being able to talk to someone, I can put you in the basement with the others if you’d like, shit is that mic still-” the voice was cut off by the mic being turned off.</p><p> </p><p>After a flash of white, Daroach looked around, he noticed the doorway the hologram was in was closed, and he noticed a new figure in the corner.</p><p> </p><p>“<b>Well, well, well, if it isn’t my puppet</b> ,” Dark Nebula commented, possessing past-Daroach, “ <b>How’s it been going? And why aren’t you dead yet?</b>”</p><p> </p><p>“...You,” Daroach growled, staring at himself, only one thought was going through his head; *<em> He’s working with the bitch who kidnapped the others </em>*</p><p> </p><p>“<b>Yes, yes, me, the evil spirit who possessed you, if only you hadn’t opened that chest, then I would’ve-</b> ” Dark Nebula started, but stopped once he noticed the appearance of some others surrounding Daroach, Spinni was to Daroach’s right and was trimming their claws,  Storo was behind Daroach putting his fist in his hand, Doc was fiddling with some electronic in his UFO to Daroach’s right, and the Squeakers were hopping around Daroach. “ <b>Where did you-</b>”</p><p> </p><p>“You see guys, the plan is simple,” Daroach said, grinning, “we <b>KILL</b> my copyrat,” the other members of the Squeak Squad laughed and agreed.</p><p> </p><p>Dark Daroach stared at the gang before him and could only mutter two simple words.</p><p> </p><p>“<b>Oh fuck.</b>”</p><p> </p><p>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</p><p> </p><p>Dark Daroach didn’t stand a damn chance.</p><p> </p><p>I mean… NO ONE stands a chance when every member of the Squeak Squad is attacking you at once, except maybe Kirby, but he doesn’t count!</p><p> </p><p>Storo gave a final punch to Dark Daroach’s stomach, “that oughta do it,” he commented.</p><p> </p><p>Dark Daroach, dazed, fell backwards, the star-shaped Dark Matter fell out of him, and then dissipated, past-Daroach’s unconscious body turned white, then disappeared, leaving an emblem, walking up to it, Daroach turned it over to see it read “Enter the Space Thieves”, satisfied with his work, he turned around.</p><p> </p><p>“Alright gang, we’re done here, let’s go back to the main area,” Daroach said.</p><p> </p><p>“If I ever have to hide in your cloak again I think I’ll scream,” Spinni joked.</p><p> </p><p>“In my opinion it’s actually quite spacious,” Doc replied.</p><p> </p><p>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</p><p> </p><p>Prince Fluff barely managed to dodge literal tank fire with his car form before getting hit  with a stray missile, knocking him to the side, and knocking his crown off his head, with tears in his eyes, he backed against the wall, with Yin-Yarn closing in.</p><p> </p><p>“All that confidence, all that gusto, vanished, in an instant, and you act as if you’re a good leader of Patchland, you’re nothing Fluff,” Yin-Yarn taunted, “you’re nothing but a scared little kid, begging for mommy and daddy to come back.”</p><p> </p><p>Fluff’s crying turned into full on sobbing with that remark.</p><p> </p><p>“Ooooo, touched a nerve there did I? Well don’t worry, you’ll join them very-” Yin-Yarn didn’t get the chance to finish that remark before getting thrown out of his tank form, a few seconds later he disappeared, leaving nothing behind.</p><p> </p><p>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</p><p> </p><p>“You saved him,” Morpho Knight commented, watching their teammate walk back into the base after freezing time.</p><p> </p><p>After a brief pause, the villain turned to face Morpho and said “Yes, yes I did.”</p><p> </p><p>“Why?”</p><p> </p><p>“*<em> sigh* </em>I don’t take pleasure in watching children cry, Morpho, and we both know Yin-Yarn went too far.”</p><p> </p><p>“Pfff, so the kid’s parents died, so what? I killed my parents and you don’t see me complaining about it!”</p><p> </p><p>The unnamed villain stared at Morpho for a few seconds, said “I’m going to let you figure out what’s wrong with that sentence,” and got back to work.</p><p> </p><p>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</p><p> </p><p>Prince Fluff banged on the doorway that the villain first appeared in, “BRING HIM BACK!” he screamed with tears in his eyes, “I KNOW I CAN BEAT HIM JUST BRING HIM BACK!” Prince Fluff collapsed.</p><p> </p><p>“...please.”</p><p> </p><p>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</p><p> </p><p>After some brief encouragement from Dedede, Bandana walked through his doorway, labeled “KSSU”, this is the fourth time I’m writing this sentence; a bunch of images began to appear on the walls. First up was the Megaton Punch championship, the first one, where Bandana took last, *<em> I mean, I lost then, but look at me now! Busting planets just like Kirby! </em>* Bandana thought, smiling(?) at the memory of him taking second last year. Secondly, a picture of him “”””fighting”””” Kirby appeared, Bandana cringed at the memory. Thirdly was an image of Meta Knight in front of Galactic Nova, wishing to fight the Greatest Warrior in the Galaxy, Bandana glared at the picture, still thinking Galacta Knight was the enemy here. Fourthly was an image of Knuckle Joe and Sir Kibble fighting two Wham-Bam Rocks, Bandana remembered that day, he and a bunch of helpers threw a party for Joe and Kibble, who knew Simirror had a sweet tooth? They ate an entire cake, in 24 seconds, their jaw unhinged like a snake, Chilly almost called an ambulance. Fifthly was an image of Kirby in front of the True Arena, Bandana didn’t know what to feel looking at that, I mean, yeah it allowed Kirby to beat up some bad guys, but Kirby had to fight Great King! And they stole Marx’s soul! Lastly, above the doorway to the boss room, there was an image of the Great King, wearing his mask, ready to face down Kirby, Bandana looked at the image for a solid ten seconds, before sighing and walking through the doorway, he didn’t like it when Dedede got angry. Walking into the big room in front of him, he saw a silhouette in a room  to the side, Bandana wasted no time and threw his spear, the spear went through the figure and bounced off the wall behind it. “Wait what?” Bandana asked, picking up his spear.</p><p> </p><p>The intercom turned on, “Could you guys please stop figuring out that’s a hologram, it makes things substantially harder later on.”</p><p> </p><p>Bandana paused and thought *<em> That was awfully… casual, for being our enemy, Galacta doesn’t talk like that, who is this guy? </em>* The room flashed white and Bandana noticed he was now face to face with King Dedede, “Oh! Great King how did you-” he was cut off by Dedede trying to hit Bandana with his hammer.</p><p> </p><p>“Word on the street is you’re helping Kirby,” Dedede said, Bandana looked up and saw that he was wearing his mask, “can’t tell if that’s treason or just an ass thing to do.”</p><p> </p><p>“G-G-G-Great King! You d-don’t understand!” Bandana started, realizing this was Dedede from his final fight with Kirby (final consensual fight anyway), “f-f-future you is actually friends with Kirby-”</p><p> </p><p>“I don’t believe it, Kirby’s stolen from me, humiliated me, and infiltrated my castle far too many times, why would I EVER be friends with him!?”</p><p> </p><p>“B-b-b-b-because-”</p><p> </p><p>“Don’t try to tell any more lies traitor!” Masked Dedede yelled, causing Bandana to jump, “I officially decree you are wanted, a criminal, and fired!” Masked Dedede tried to hit Bandana with his hammer but the waddle dee jumped out of the way just in time, “you’ll find my severance package gets a little <b>violent</b>.”</p><p> </p><p>*<em> Alright, no helping this one, hopefully now-Dedede doesn’t feel any of this </em>* Bandana said, stabbing down towards Dedede from the sky, MD (I’m calling him that now) knocked the guard away with his hammer, planted it into the ground, aimed towards Bandana, and fired, Bandana got up and saw the missile barrage coming towards him, panicking, Bandana ran to the right, praying nothing hit him, thankfully nothing did, MD hit his hammer, picked it back up, and ran towards Bandana, doing a spin attack to try and hit him, Bandana used the ancient technique of “just jump the fuck out of the way” and dodged. Unfourtunately, MD isn’t stupid and saw that coming, so he grabbed Bandana and threw him at the wall, cracking it.</p><p> </p><p>A voice came on the intercom, “THAT ROOM COST 200,000 TO MAKE, BREAK IT AGAIN AND I’M FORFEITING AND GIVING BANDANA THE EMBLEM!”</p><p> </p><p>*<em> How do they know my name </em> * Bandana thought, * <em> and how did they know about mine and Dedede’s excursion with Kirby? We kept that behind closed doors, the only people who know about that are our friends, the Meta-Knights, and some of King Dedede’s staff, his CLOSEST staff* </em> Bandana mentally questioned, self-aggrandizing himself. With little effort, Bandana punched MD, who attempted another assault, looking at the masked royal, Bandana said, “Y’know, to be honest, I like new Dedede more.”</p><p> </p><p>“Liar! I know I’ll never be friends with <b> <em>Kirby</em> </b> <b>!</b>” MD yelled, spitting out the puffball’s name like rotten fish.</p><p> </p><p>“You can believe that if you want, but it’s not true,” Bandana responded, “you see, you’re trying to earn the title of King, and to be honest, in the future, you do.”</p><p> </p><p>MD paused, “Wait, what?”</p><p> </p><p>“Yes, yes you do, Great King, but you don’t earn it by beating Kirby, he’s way out of everyone’s league, you earn it, by giving up,” Bandana explained, “by finally stopping a petty feud, you earn the title by admitting defeat.”</p><p> </p><p>“I don’t-”</p><p> </p><p>“I know you don’t believe me Dedede, but I promise, if you forfeit this fight, and you admit defeat against Kirby, you’ll be much happier.”</p><p> </p><p>“I’ll never have to fight again?”</p><p> </p><p>“Well… no, at least in my timeline, people LOVE possessing you, guess you’re just that  strong,” Bandana joked, “but please, take off the mask, and forfeit, I know you’re tired of fighting.”</p><p> </p><p>MD paused in thought, looked at Bandana, took off the mask, and threw it and the hammer to the side, then he turned white, and disappeared, leaving behind an emblem that read “The Legend of Dee” on it, smiling(?) Bandana left the scene.</p><p> </p><p>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</p><p> </p><p>“MEDAMNIT WHY DID THAT WORK!?” Morpho yelled.</p><p> </p><p>“Bandana’s just that nice I guess.”</p><p> </p><p>“WHY ARE YOU SO CALM!?”</p><p> </p><p>“Well…” the villain started, before sending the cage Susie was in down to storage.</p><p> </p><p>“You little-” Susie tried to say.</p><p> </p><p>“My plan relies on them beating everyone, it’s why I gave Fluff a second chance,” after a brief pause, looking at the camera in Yin-Yarn’s room, they said “that’s why I’m giving Fluff a third chance.”</p><p> </p><p>“Why do you want them to get here?” Morpho asked, watching their ally walk over to their workbench.</p><p> </p><p>“Our deal was I had to die, you never specified who had to do it.”</p><p> </p><p>“Ohhhhh manipulation, nice-”</p><p> </p><p>“It’s not manipulation! I have it all planned out, I taunt them relentlessly one of them snaps, probably Susie, and kills me, and I can have a big climatic final moment where I thank them for doing that and die happy and-”</p><p> </p><p>“It sounds like you’re manipulating them.”</p><p> </p><p>“<b>I’M NOT-</b>”</p><p> </p><p>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</p><p> </p><p>Prince Fluff hit the wall with a loud thud before Yin-Yarn disappeared again, Fluff tried to get up but kept falling down, the only noise in the room being Fluff’s crying, eventually Fluff just stayed on the ground and quietly cried to himself.</p><p> </p><p>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</p><p> </p><p>Dark Meta Knight was getting a little worried, Daroach and Bandana had just returned, but Prince Fluff hadn't yet, not that he cared, but it was a little disconcerting that the first person to leave hadn't returned.</p><p> </p><p>“Dark Meta, you said you knew which door was yours?” Meta Knight asked.</p><p> </p><p>“Oh, yeah, the ‘KATAM’ door, sounds stupid.”</p><p> </p><p>“Well judging by what the others have said I need you to test a theory.”</p><p> </p><p>“Hmm?”</p><p> </p><p>“Marx said that he fought himself at the end of his hall, Daroach said he fought Dark Daroach, and Bandana said he fought Dedede with his mask,” Meta explained, “I need you to do your hall, and tell me after, did you fight Dark Mind?”</p><p> </p><p>“...<b> <em>Why</em> </b> are you bringing <b> <em>HIM</em> </b> into this conversation?” DMK growled.</p><p> </p><p>“Because if my theory is correct, then I know what lies at the end of all of these halls.”</p><p> </p><p>“And what would that be?”</p><p> </p><p>“The villain that caused all of us to meet Kirby.”</p><p> </p><p>“...what?”</p><p> </p><p>“Or, at least the last person Kirby fought in his adventures, I trust you’ll give me an honest answer?”</p><p> </p><p>“Yeah, yeah, whatever, I’ll make it quick,” DMK groaned.</p><p> </p><p>“Thank you, and one more thing,” Meta started, “why were you looking at Fluff’s hall?”</p><p> </p><p>“...kid hasn’t come out yet, two of us finished before him, it’s just… worrying,” Dark Meta said before walking down the hall.</p><p> </p><p>“...So he cares about Fluff like a son already?” Dedede joked.</p><p> </p><p>“Oh 100% absolutely,” Meta responded.</p><p> </p><p>Not hearing his allies joke about him, Dark Meta Knight walked down the hall before, surprise surprise, images began to appear on the walls (Trust me, I’m getting as tired writing that sentence as you are reading it). Firstly was that time he split Kirby, Dark Meta didn’t know whether he regretted that or was happy about it, I mean, it caused him to lose to Kirby, but it also let Kirby beat up Dark Mind. Second was when he sealed Meta Knight in the mirror, while Meta still acts friendly to those around him, Dark Meta isn’t stupid, he knows Meta Knight still holds that grudge, and he knows he still holds one against Susie… probably. He can’t hold a grudge against ONLY him right? ...Right, no way he doesn’t resent Susie, no way. Third image to appear was Kirby fighting Dark Meta when he was disguised as Meta Knight, he still had no idea how that worked, that was last second attempt to stay hidden and somehow everyone fell for it, THEY’RE TWO COMPLETELY DIFFERENT COLORS. Fourth image was his fight with Kirby when he was given away by Meta Knight, seriously, is everyone in Dreamland colorblind? Do they only see in black and white? Moving on, the fifth image was of Kirby fighting two hands, that was always odd to Dark Meta, Kirby, Dedede, and Meta always claimed they “Know them from their vacation”, that one Bandana’s always trying to join, what vacation? And why does Meta always steal one of Dark’s masks before he leaves? Anyway, the last picture was above a door frame, it was the four Kirby’s fighting Dark Mind’s normal form, the weird one that looks like a stretched Dedede. Dark Meta glared at the picture then jumped down to the room, seeing a figure standing in the shadows. Dark Meta raised his sword but the figure dismissively raised a hand, pulled out the Time Breaker, and then activated it, in the figures place stood a new, taller, angrier figure.</p><p> </p><p>“...<b> <em>Dark Mind</em> </b>.” Dark Meta growled.</p><p> </p><p>“<b> <em>Dark Meta Knight</em> </b>.” Dark Mind growled back.</p><p> </p><p>“Well, it seems the theory was correct, I’ll be glad to return with that information,” Dark Meta Knight said, drawing his sword, “<b>I’ll also be more than happy to return with your corpse</b>.” With that, Dark Meta dashed at Dark Mind, used a basic sword combo and Dark Mind… shattered? “...I- ...it CAN’T be THAT easy!” Dark Meta exclaimed, shortly after, Dark Mind appeared again, and felt the tail end of DMK summoning four swords out of the ground, and then he shattered. “ARE YOU SERIOUS!?” Dark Mind appeared again, “OKAY I WAS ABOUT TO SAY-”</p><p> </p><p>“Shut up,” Dark Mind said, shooting out several star projectiles, DMK effortlessly dodged them, and then hit Dark Mind with a Dark Calibur, Dark Mind shattered.</p><p> </p><p>“I am about to scream, you did this with Kirby too?”</p><p> </p><p>“Who’s Kirby?” Dark Mind asked, reappearing behind DMK and trying to swat him out of the sky, Dark Meta retaliated by swiping at Dark Mind’s face, shattering him.</p><p> </p><p>“Kirby kills you in the future, and also <b> <em>if you do that one more time-</em> </b> ” Dark Meta started, but was cut off by Dark Mind reappearing again, “ <b>I SWEAR TO NOVA-</b> ” Dark Meta screamed, reflecting one of Dark Mind’s stars, shattering the villain once again. Dark Mind reappeared again, but in his second form, staring down DMK, “Ah, there it is,” Dark Meta nonchalantly said, after hearing Kirby talk about how odd this second form was, he finally got to see it. Dark Meta dashed at the eye but got knocked away by some rotating mirrors, Dark Mind summoned some minions, Dark Meta mercilessly cut through them like butter. Dark Mind summoned another mirror shield and tried the good-old fashioned tactic of ramming your enemy head on, and it worked, knocking Dark Meta away again. * <em> So this is why it took four Kirbies to do this </em>* Dark Meta thought, staggered, Dark Mind tried to ram him again, but Dark Meta dodged this time. Dark Mind kept trying to ram Dark Meta, who, after realizing this pattern, just whacked the bitch every time he missed, eventually wearing the eye down. With a quick final stab, Dark Mind shattered, thankfully for the last time, “Wait, didn’t Kirby say that there was a big fight on the Warp Star too?” Dark Meta asked.</p><p> </p><p>The intercom came on, “I couldn’t afford that.”</p><p> </p><p>“Well, that makes sense I guess,” Dark Meta replied, looking down he saw the emblem on the ground, picking it up, he saw it read ‘From the Shadows’, chuckling at the emblem, he left to go back to the group.</p><p> </p><p>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</p><p> </p><p>“WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU ‘COULDN’T AFFORD’ TO MAKE THE FIGHT HARDER!?” Morpho yelled, “YOU HAVE A NEAR INFINITE SUPPLY OF MONEY!”</p><p> </p><p>“Well, yeah, but once again, I want them to win.”</p><p> </p><p>“What do you mean you ‘want us to win’?” Magolor asked from his cage.</p><p> </p><p>“Yes, Mags, I will tell you my entire plan right now, genius idea.”</p><p> </p><p>“Iwasjustasking,” Magolor grumbled.</p><p> </p><p>“Anyway- wait, did Fluff just lose again!?” Morpho yelled, seeing the prince be thrown against the wall on the cameras.</p><p> </p><p>“Oh dear Nova.”</p><p> </p><p>“Who’s Fluff?” Magolor asked.</p><p> </p><p>“Friend of Kirby’s, joined the group a while back, he’s lost to his old enemy, Yin-Yarn, six times now.”</p><p> </p><p>“Oh geez.”</p><p> </p><p>“Yeah I’m… thinking of just letting him win.”</p><p> </p><p>“YOU’RE GONNA THROW THE FIGHT!?” Morpho yelled.</p><p> </p><p>“He’s a kid, and we need him to win.”</p><p> </p><p>“You are by FAR the worst villain I’ve ever worked with!”</p><p> </p><p>“No, I’m just the most compassionate.”</p><p> </p><p>Morpho grumbled and walked towards the kitchen area.</p><p> </p><p>“...hey, buddy, how about you use some of that compassion and let me out?” Magolor proposed.</p><p> </p><p>“*<em> sigh </em>* you know I can’t do that Mags.”</p><p> </p><p>“Awwww, why not, I promise I’ll be nice!”</p><p> </p><p>“You mean you promise you’ll blow the entire operation?”</p><p> </p><p>“Why are you even still going with this? You know you’re not gonna win, you’re fighting KIRBY, you should know how this’ll end.”</p><p> </p><p>“I do know.”</p><p> </p><p>“Then why continue?”</p><p> </p><p>After a brief pause, the villain responded, “I quit now, I walk away a failure with no friends, if I fail, I walk away a failure with no friends, even if there’s the smallest chance that I win I have to continue,” the villain grimly said, “because if I don’t then I’m guaranteeing myself the bad ending.”</p><p> </p><p>“If you continue there’s no way out of the bad ending,” Magolor replied.</p><p> </p><p>“Good, then when I lose, I’ll win.”</p><p> </p><p>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</p><p> </p><p>“Meta Knight? I can confirm, I fought Dark Mind in my hall,” Dark Meta said, walking back into the main chamber, “has Fluff come back yet?”</p><p> </p><p>“Still a no on Fluff, I’m getting pretty worried for him,” Meta responded, looking down the ‘KEY’ hall.</p><p> </p><p>“Poyo,” Kirby sadly said, agreeing.</p><p> </p><p>“But with that said, I know what’s down every hallway!”</p><p> </p><p>“Really? How?” Rick asked.</p><p> </p><p>“Simple, Marx said he beat Marx from the past, Daroach said he and the Squeaks beat Dark Daroach, Bandana said he beat Masked Dedede, and Dark Meta Knight just said he beat Dark Mind,” Meta stated, “so the pattern is simple, it’s the final person Kirby fought when we all first met him, Marx, Dark Daroach, Masked Dedede, and Dark Mind were all final threats.”</p><p> </p><p>The intercom came on, “Please stop being smart, if you’re smart this makes it harder.”</p><p> </p><p>“Galacta. Silence before I end your pitiful existence,” Zan growled.</p><p> </p><p>“It’s not Galacta,” Bandana corrected.</p><p> </p><p>“What?”</p><p> </p><p>“Galacta is incredibly uptight and wouldn’t be caught dead talking to us so casually, they called me Bandana, through the year or so that I’ve known Galacta they always call me ‘Bandana Waddle Dee’, never just ‘Bandana’ like all of you.”</p><p> </p><p>“Yeah I noticed that too but in a different way,” Daroach added, “me and Galacta have never talked, I saw them once, but that was mere seconds before Morpho possessed them, yet the person on the intercom knew my name.”</p><p> </p><p>“Also they knew the specifics of Kirby’s final fight with Great King, the one where he used the mask, while everyone knows he got beat up again, only a select few of his servants, the Meta-Knights, and us knew about the mask,” Bandana explained.</p><p> </p><p>“Well, anything to say <b>bitch?</b>” Zan snapped, glaring at the speaker.</p><p> </p><p>“Uhhhhhh nope, you’re all wrong I’m definitely Galacta, 100%”</p><p> </p><p>“You are most certainly not Galacta,” Meta joked, “Galacta would rather die than use modern slang.”</p><p> </p><p>“Shut up, all of you, before I silence you myself.”</p><p> </p><p>“So you use magic?” Dedede asked, grinning at the speaker.</p><p> </p><p>“NOVADAMNIT!”</p><p> </p><p>“Aaaaand you worship Nova, so you’re from Popstar,” Marx added, also grinning.</p><p> </p><p>“I swear-” the villain was cut off by the intercom turning off.</p><p> </p><p>“Hehehe, seems our enemy isn’t as smart as I first thought,” Meta Knight said, chuckling.</p><p> </p><p>“Wait, so, if it isn’t Galacta, who is it?” Rick asked.</p><p> </p><p>“I have no clue, but we’ll probably find out once we’re behind that door,” Meta said, pointing to the door that wasn’t even a third of the way done.</p><p> </p><p>“Wow, we got a while to go don’t we?” Coo replied.</p><p> </p><p>“Yes we do, so, Rick, Kine, Coo, you know which hall is yours?”</p><p> </p><p>“Yeah mate, that one,” Rick said, pointing to the hall that said ‘KD2’ on it.</p><p> </p><p>“Okay, well, then you all will most likely be fighting Dark Matter, both the Swordsman and the Eye.”</p><p> </p><p>“O̵h̷ ̷j̶o̵y̷,̴” DMS groaned, “t̷h̷a̸t̴'̸s̵ ̷m̶y̸ ̴d̵o̵o̴r̸ ̴a̵s̷ ̷w̵e̸l̶l̴.̷”</p><p> </p><p>“Well, then you’re probably going to have to-”</p><p> </p><p>“G̵o̸ ̸w̶i̸t̴h̵ ̴t̸h̶e̷m̷ ̷a̶n̵d̷ ̷b̷e̶a̶t̷ ̵u̴p̷ ̷m̸e̷,̸ ̸y̸e̴a̷h̶ ̵I̷ ̶k̶n̵o̴w̸.̸” getting up from their rather comfy position on the floor, the living blob of evil walked through the hall, “t̸h̷i̴s̵ ̸i̸s̷ ̷g̷o̵n̵n̴a̵ ̷b̷e̸ ̴a̷w̸k̵w̴a̶r̵d̸.̸”</p><p> </p><p>“Tell me about it,” Kine said, floating(?) through the doorway.</p><p> </p><p>“Be back in a bit, ring us when Fluff gets back, wanna visit Patchland at some point,” Rick added, walking through the door with Coo on his back. Walking through the hall, surprising absolutely no one, images started to appear on the walls (Y’know what I’m actually getting MORE tired of writing that sentence then you are reading it, because after I write that I have to look up a bunch of cutscenes from games I haven’t played). Firstly was an image of Rick helping Kirby in the Grasslands, Rick took a second to stare at that memory, he was grateful that Kirby is a close friend of his, but everyone attacks the forest now, which isn’t that great…</p><p> </p><p>“Well that’s trippy,” Coo remarked.</p><p> </p><p>“Yeah how’d they pull that off?” Kine added.</p><p> </p><p>“W̵e̶ ̶a̶l̵r̵e̷a̴d̶y̴ ̶k̴n̸o̸w̴ ̷t̸h̴e̸y̵'̴r̷e̴ ̴a̷ ̵s̷o̴r̸c̷e̸r̷e̴r̶,̴ ̶a̷n̴d̵ ̸t̵h̵e̶r̵e̶'̷s̴ ̸a̴l̷s̶o̶ ̶p̶r̸o̴b̸a̸b̴l̸y̸ ̸s̴o̷m̸e̶ ̴H̶a̸l̵c̶a̶n̴d̴r̵a̶n̶ ̷a̶r̶t̷i̵f̴a̸c̸t̵ ̴t̵h̷a̴t̶ ̸d̵o̷e̷s̵ ̷t̴h̸i̴s̵ ̸t̵o̴o̵.̸” Dark Matter replied.</p><p> </p><p>Secondly there was an image of Coo accidentally slamming Kirby into a wall in Big Forest.</p><p> </p><p>“Oh yeah that happened,” Coo said, chuckling, “that was the day that I learned Kirby knows how to say ‘ass’.”</p><p> </p><p>“Really? I’ve never heard Kirby curse, and can’t he only say ‘poyo’?” Rick replied.</p><p> </p><p>“That’s what Meta and Fluff think, have to keep up the facade of innocence and not knowing.”</p><p> </p><p>“A̶r̸e̷ ̸y̸o̵u̶ ̵i̵m̸p̴l̶y̶i̷n̴g̸ ̵K̵i̷r̴b̵y̶-̸”</p><p> </p><p>“No, Kirby does not know what sex is and if you tell him I’m going to kill you,” Coo responded, glaring at Dark Matter.</p><p> </p><p>“T̷o̶ ̵b̸e̸ ̵h̶o̴n̵e̷s̵t̷ ̴y̵o̸u̶'̴d̶ ̸p̸r̸o̵b̵a̶b̷l̶y̴ ̸b̵e̷ ̴d̶o̷i̴n̵g̶ ̷t̵h̸e̸ ̸w̴o̷r̵l̵d̷ ̶a̴ ̷f̷a̸v̷o̸r̴.̷”</p><p> </p><p>“What do you mean?” Kine asked.</p><p> </p><p>“I̸'̷l̸l̸ ̴t̶e̷l̴l̸ ̶y̵o̴u̵ ̵l̷a̴t̶e̸r̷,̴ ̵b̵u̵t̶ ̵o̸n̷l̷y̶ ̴i̶f̴ ̷y̶o̸u̶ ̵p̵r̶o̷m̶i̷s̴e̴ ̶t̸o̸ ̸n̸o̴t̴ ̸t̸e̴l̵l̸ ̴t̷h̶e̶ ̵o̵t̷h̵e̶r̶s̷.̸”</p><p> </p><p>“Deal,” the trio responded.</p><p> </p><p>Thirdly, an image of Kirby giving Kine an apple in Ripple Field appeared.</p><p> </p><p>“I didn’t even know fish could eat apples,” Rick remarked.</p><p> </p><p>“Most fish can’t, but most fish also have only gills not gills AND lungs so…” Kine joked.</p><p> </p><p>Fourthly, an image of Rick and Kirby ramming a wall in stone form, knocking Coo of a rock in Red Canyon appeared.</p><p> </p><p>“And that’s why Rick isn’t allowed to use stone form when not helping a crisis,” Coo said.</p><p> </p><p>“It was one time!” Rick claimed.</p><p> </p><p>“And that was a good nap,” Coo grimaced.</p><p> </p><p>Fifthly, an image of Kirby, Rick, Kine, and Coo going to Dedede’s castle appeared.</p><p> </p><p>“Ah, the quiet days where people simply tried to take over Dreamland, and not destroy the entire galaxy,” Kine remarked.</p><p> </p><p>“I̵ ̸f̶i̴n̴d̷ ̸i̶t̵ ̵f̶u̵n̸n̸y̸ ̴t̵h̷a̵t̴ ̸y̷o̴u̵ ̷s̷a̶y̵ ̷t̴h̴a̷t̵ ̵l̸i̴k̸e̷ ̷e̴i̷t̷h̵e̶r̶ ̵o̵f̷ ̷t̶h̶o̸s̴e̴ ̶t̶h̵i̷n̷g̵s̶ ̸a̴r̵e̶ ̴f̷a̶v̷o̸r̶a̴b̴l̶e̴.̶”</p><p> </p><p>“Oh you’re one to talk, you’re the reason we were going there.”</p><p> </p><p>“S̷p̴e̷a̴k̶i̷n̷g̶ ̵o̶f̸ ̸t̷h̶e̸ ̷d̶e̵v̸i̸l̴;̴” Dark Matter said, pointing to the last image above the doorway, which was one of Kirby fighting the Swordsman.</p><p> </p><p>“And the devil shall come,” Rick finished, staring at the image.</p><p> </p><p>The Trio + DMS jumped down into the big room at the end of the hall, which had someone hiding in the dark. Coo was about to run up and attack but was stopped by DMS, “T̸h̵e̴y̷ ̶a̶r̴e̵n̷'̴t̵ ̵g̷i̴v̸i̴n̸g̸ ̷o̴f̶f̴ ̵h̶e̵a̴t̶,̸ ̴i̴t̴'̴s̷ ̴a̴ ̷f̵a̶k̷e̸.̵” The hologram dissipated and the intercom came on.</p><p> </p><p>“Y’know I’ve gotten so tired of saying ‘could you not figure out that’s a hologram’ that I just can’t bother anymore.”</p><p> </p><p>“YOU ARE SUCH AN AWFUL VILLAIN,” Morpho yelled in the background.</p><p> </p><p>“Wait… IS THAT MORPHO KNIGHT!?” Coo yelled.</p><p> </p><p>“MORPHO KNIGHT!?” Kine yelled.</p><p> </p><p>“O̷h̷ ̴d̵e̶a̸r̴ ̷i̷t̴'̸s̵ ̵M̵o̴r̵p̶h̴o̵ ̸K̷n̵i̵g̸h̵t̴.̵” DMS added, scared.</p><p> </p><p>“Ohhhh nooooo this just got a lot worse,” Rick grimaced.</p><p> </p><p>“See Morpho? This is what you get for talking, now they know you’re here, congrats,” the intercom turned off and the room flashed white. Floating in front of the animals and Dark Matter was Dark Matter, but from the past.</p><p> </p><p>“O̷h̵ ̸n̶o̶ ̵i̸t̵'̴s̸ ̸m̵e̶.̴”</p><p> </p><p>Past-DMS looked out their future self, “<b>I̶ ̵s̶e̷e̸ ̸y̴o̷u̶'̶v̵e̷ ̷b̷e̶t̸r̶a̶y̴e̶d̸ ̴L̶o̸r̶d̶ ̸0̷.̸</b>”</p><p> </p><p>“L̷o̵r̶d̴ ̶0̵ ̵i̵s̷ ̶d̶e̵a̷d̸,̷ ̶0̸²̶ ̵i̶s̵ ̵d̷e̵a̸d̶,̸ ̶M̴i̷r̶a̶c̴l̶e̷ ̵M̶a̸t̴t̷e̶r̵ ̷i̶s̷ ̷d̸e̵a̴d̸,̸ ̸t̸h̵e̸y̷'̷r̸e̴ ̷a̴l̶l̸ ̷d̴e̵a̷d̶,̷ ̵t̶h̴e̸r̵e̶'̷s̷ ̶n̷o̶ ̶p̶o̸i̷n̸t̴ ̴i̶n̵ ̷c̵o̴n̴t̶i̵n̸u̴i̵n̸g̶.̷” Dark Matter claimed, drawing their sword.</p><p> </p><p>*<em> Wait, nearly all of Dark Matter is dead? Is… is DMS the last one? </em>* Rick thought.</p><p> </p><p>“<b>T̶h̸a̶t̷'̶s̴ ̵i̵r̶r̷e̶l̷e̸v̶a̷n̶t̴,̴ ̷o̸u̷r̵ ̶g̵o̸a̷l̷ ̸w̸a̴s̸ ̷t̵o̵ ̵t̷a̵k̷e̷ ̸o̴v̸e̸r̷ ̶t̵h̸e̸ ̸g̷a̵l̴a̴x̶y̸ ̸u̶n̵t̵i̷l̷ ̶o̵u̷r̸ ̸l̷a̴s̷t̴ ̵b̸r̶e̶a̴t̴h̸,̷</b> ” Past-DMS stated, drawing their sword, “ <b>I̴ ̶t̶h̴i̸n̶k̸ ̶i̶t̷'̵s̵ ̵t̸i̴m̵e̸ ̴y̷o̷u̵ ̴d̸r̴e̶w̴ ̴y̵o̶u̸r̶s̵,̷ ̴t̷r̷a̴i̶t̴o̵r̶.̸</b>”</p><p> </p><p>“That’s not going to happen Past Matter,” Kine said, staring at the villain, “you see, Future-You has been a great help to us, and you need to die for us to continue, so-”</p><p> </p><p>“We’re going to split you down the middle!” Coo excitedly yelled.</p><p> </p><p>“<b>.̷.̶.̴A̵n̶i̴m̸a̶l̶s̴?̸ ̶Y̸o̴u̶'̸r̶e̴ ̴t̴e̴a̶m̷i̵n̶g̸ ̵w̶i̸t̶h̶.̸.̵.̸ ̸A̴n̶i̷m̸a̴l̴s̸?̴</b>”</p><p> </p><p>“Hey! These ‘Animals’ saved the galaxy! From YOU! So you better watch it!” Kine snapped.</p><p> </p><p>“Uhhhh, this isn’t really my expertise, Imma just let y'all figure this out,” Rick said, backing into a corner.</p><p> </p><p>“<b>S̶m̴a̵r̵t̷ ̷a̶r̸e̸n̸'̸t̴ ̷y̴o̸u̸.̵.̸.̴ ̴I̸'̷l̸l̸ ̸k̵i̵l̴l̴ ̶y̵o̸u̷ ̶l̴a̶s̵t̶.̴</b> ” Past Matter responded, before getting blindsided by a cutter attack from Coo, “ <b>w̴h̸y̴ ̷y̶o̵u̶ ̷l̸i̸t̴t̷l̷e̶-̴</b>”</p><p> </p><p>“There’s four of us, and one of you, what chance do you have?” Coo asked.</p><p> </p><p>“<b>S̴h̵u̵t̶.̶ ̵U̶p̵.̴</b>” Past Matter growled, lunging to try and stab Coo, but got blocked by Current-DMS.</p><p> </p><p>“D̴o̴n̴'̶t̵ ̷t̵o̴u̷c̸h̶ ̸t̷h̷e̵ ̶b̴i̶r̵d̵.̶” Dark Matter said, before flipping Past Matter’s sword out of their hands, Past Matter recalled it and tried to swing at DMS, but was blocked by DMS’ own sword. Kine and Coo looked at each other and nodded, Coo picked up Kine and threw the fish at the sentient evil, before collision Kine used his ice field, which hurt Past Matter, but didn’t freeze them.</p><p> </p><p>“Was really hoping that would work,” Kine remarked.</p><p> </p><p>“<b>Y̴O̵U̴ ̶I̴N̶S̴U̵F̸F̴E̸R̸A̵B̸L̴E̶-̶</b>” Past Matter yelled, before being cut off by a sword slash to their back.</p><p> </p><p>“D̵o̵n̴'̴t̸ ̵t̵a̶k̷e̵ ̴y̵o̵u̷r̸ ̶e̴y̴e̵ ̸o̷f̶ ̶y̶o̶u̵r̷ ̷o̵p̸p̷o̴n̴e̴n̴t̸ ̶r̷o̷o̸k̸i̶e̸.̷”</p><p> </p><p>“<b>I̸ ̸W̷I̵L̸L̶ ̸S̵L̴A̷Y̶ ̸Y̷O̸U̷,̴ ̷T̴H̷E̶N̶ ̶T̴H̶E̷ ̴A̷N̷I̷M̵A̶L̵S̴,̷ ̵T̷H̶E̴N̴ ̸I̵'̴L̵L̴ ̶J̴U̶S̸T̶ ̸B̵U̷R̷N̴ ̷D̵O̶W̸N̷ ̶T̴H̵E̸ ̶E̷N̸T̶I̵R̶E̶ ̵0̴F̷O̶R̸S̷A̷K̷E̷N̷ ̴F̴O̵R̷E̷S̴T̵.̸</b>”</p><p> </p><p>“You’ll what, sorry?” Rick growled, glaring at the villain.</p><p> </p><p>“<b>Y̴O̷U̷ ̷F̶U̷C̷K̸I̴N̶G̵ ̸H̸E̷A̶R̶D̵ ̴M̶E̸</b>” Past Matter screamed, ”<b>I̶'̶M̵ ̷G̶O̵I̶N̶G̸ ̴T̵O̴ ̴K̶I̵L̶L̸ ̷Y̸O̸U̸,̷ ̸T̷H̷E̶N̵ ̷B̷U̷R̸N̶ ̸D̵O̶W̷N̵-̸</b>” Past Matter was cut off by Rick breathing fire on them, then turning into rock form on top of the evil, then just jumping on their body.</p><p> </p><p>“Don’t. Touch. Our. FOREST!” Rick yelled, punctuating every word with a jump, causing Past Matter to essentially just go into the fetal position.</p><p> </p><p>“.̶.̷.̸N̷o̶t̴e̷ ̶t̵o̶ ̷s̸e̷l̴f̷:̶ ̵d̶o̶n̷'̸t̸ ̸p̴i̶s̸s̴ ̶o̷f̵f̵ ̵t̶h̶e̴ ̵h̷a̶m̸s̶t̴e̶r̸.̷”</p><p> </p><p>Past Matter, lying on the ground, writhing in pain, turned white, then disappeared, leaving behind two emblems, Rick picked up the first one, which read ‘Animal Trio’.</p><p> </p><p>“Huh, well ain’t that neat,” Rick commented, completely disregarding the abuse he just put Past Matter through. Dark Matter picked up the second, which read ‘Dark Skies Overhead’.</p><p> </p><p>“H̵m̶m̵,̵ ̷i̶n̶t̵e̶r̴e̴s̸t̷i̸n̷g̷.̶”</p><p> </p><p>“What?” Kine asked.</p><p> </p><p>“I̴ ̵d̵o̵n̶'̴t̸ ̴k̷n̶o̷w̴,̴ ̶I̸ ̷j̴u̵s̴t̴ ̵e̷x̸p̷e̸c̶t̴e̷d̴ ̶i̶t̵ ̷t̶o̸ ̶s̶a̷y̷ ̴s̷o̶m̴e̷t̸h̶i̴n̸g̴ ̶l̷i̶k̶e̷ ̴'̸D̶a̸r̵k̵ ̶C̴l̷o̵u̷d̸s̷ ̸a̸n̴d̵ ̵D̴a̷r̴k̸ ̶M̵a̴t̵t̴e̶r̵'̶ ̵o̷r̶ ̶"̴D̵a̷r̴k̸ ̸M̶a̵t̷t̵e̴r̶ ̸i̵n̷ ̴t̶h̴e̷ ̷H̷y̶p̵e̴r̸ ̵Z̴o̴n̷e̶'̵ ̶o̴r̸ ̶s̶o̵m̴e̴t̴h̴i̸n̵g̴ ̸l̷i̸k̴e̴ ̸t̷h̷a̴t̶.̴”</p><p> </p><p>“Oh, uh, DMS, quick question,” Rick started, getting Dark Matter’s attention, “are you… the last piece of Dark Matter?”</p><p> </p><p>“H̸u̶h̸,̸ ̵y̶o̷u̸'̶r̸e̵ ̶s̵m̴a̷r̴t̸ ̶R̶i̸c̴k̸,̷ ̴y̴e̴s̸,̷ ̴I̵ ̸a̶m̶ ̶t̷h̷e̷ ̷l̵a̵s̶t̴ ̵f̵r̷a̵g̶m̴e̷n̵t̵ ̴o̷f̶ ̷D̷a̷r̸k̶ ̴M̷a̸t̸t̴e̸r̵ ̵s̶t̷i̴l̶l̷ ̵a̵l̸i̷v̸e̶,̵ ̵t̶h̴a̴t̶ ̷w̸a̶s̶ ̷a̸c̸t̵u̶a̴l̸l̸y̵ ̴w̵h̷a̸t̵ ̵I̴ ̴p̵r̶o̴m̴i̴s̴e̸d̵ ̶t̵o̷ ̴t̸e̷l̶l̷ ̶y̸o̷u̵ ̵e̷a̶r̷l̷i̶e̶r̵,̷” Dark Matter confirmed, “I̷ ̸a̷c̵t̷u̴a̴l̷l̷y̴ ̷o̷n̵l̷y̶ ̵d̸e̵c̷i̵d̵e̴d̸ ̵t̶o̷ ̵h̴e̸l̵p̶ ̶y̵o̶u̸r̵ ̷l̸i̸t̴t̷l̵e̵ ̴g̷r̴o̴u̸p̵ ̷t̵o̶ ̷t̸e̶l̵l̴ ̴G̶o̶o̵e̶y̸,̸ ̵I̸ ̸w̴a̵s̵ ̸p̸l̵a̶n̸n̶i̷n̷g̸ ̷o̴n̷ ̸d̶y̶i̶n̶g̷ ̶a̴f̴t̸e̷r̸w̴a̸r̶d̸s̶.̷”</p><p> </p><p>“What? Why?”</p><p> </p><p>“Y̴o̸u̵ ̸h̷e̶a̷r̵d̸ ̶m̵e̸ ̵t̷e̸l̸l̷ ̵P̴a̵s̶t̶-̷M̵e̸,̵ ̷e̷v̴e̵r̸y̸o̸n̸e̵'̵s̸ ̷d̵e̴a̶d̸,̷ ̷n̸o̵ ̵p̸o̷i̵n̷t̶ ̸i̶n̷ ̵t̵r̵y̸i̸n̷g̸ ̷t̷o̶ ̴t̶a̸k̴e̸ ̶o̷v̴e̶r̸ ̴t̵h̶e̴ ̷g̴a̷l̸a̴x̶y̵,̴ ̷I̸ ̶w̸a̵s̴ ̶p̴l̷a̶n̶n̴i̶n̵g̷ ̸o̷n̸ ̶g̷e̸t̵t̶i̶n̵g̶ ̴o̵n̵e̵ ̵o̵f̸ ̵y̸o̵u̴ ̶a̸l̸l̸ ̵t̸o̶ ̵k̴i̴l̷l̴ ̴m̷e̶.̵”</p><p> </p><p>“Well, you don’t necessarily have to die,” Kine suggested.</p><p> </p><p>“W̵h̴a̸t̸ ̶d̸o̸ ̸y̶o̷u̷ ̴m̴e̵a̵n̶?̶”</p><p> </p><p>“I mean, you could join the Star Allies like Fluff probably is going to.”</p><p> </p><p>Dark Matter chuckled, “M̶e̸?̶ ̵T̷h̶e̷ ̷l̶a̶s̶t̶ ̵p̶i̴e̶c̴e̸ ̷o̴f̴ ̵D̴a̷r̶k̵ ̶M̶a̸t̶t̷e̷r̴?̸ ̶T̴h̶e̸ ̶a̵n̷c̵i̸e̴n̴t̵ ̷e̶v̵i̸l̸ ̸t̶h̵a̶t̴ ̵G̷a̸l̶a̸c̵t̷a̶ ̸K̸n̷i̵g̶h̸t̶ ̶s̸e̵a̸l̵e̴d̶ ̷a̶w̵a̸y̶ ̵a̵l̵l̶ ̶t̶h̶o̷s̸e̴ ̶y̶e̵a̶r̶s̷ ̵a̶g̵o̵?̸ ̷K̴i̶r̴b̷y̸'̶s̸ ̷m̷o̵s̴t̵ ̴p̸r̶o̴m̷i̴n̵e̴n̴t̸ ̸t̸h̸r̶e̶a̸t̵ ̸o̶v̷e̷r̶ ̷t̶h̶e̶ ̷y̸e̶a̶r̴s̷?̶ ̶N̶o̸,̵ ̶t̸h̶a̸t̴'̷s̴ ̵t̷o̷o̷ ̵h̵a̵p̴p̶y̶ ̷a̴n̷ ̶e̷n̴d̴i̵n̶g̵ ̷f̶o̴r̴ ̴m̵e̷,̵” they grimly stated, “I̸'̴l̷l̷ ̴j̷u̶s̸t̴ ̸d̷i̸e̴ ̵a̵n̶d̵ ̷g̶e̸t̵ ̸o̸u̴t̷ ̷o̷f̷ ̷y̷o̴u̸r̸ ̷h̷a̴i̵r̸,̴ ̷o̶r̴ ̸f̶u̸r̷ ̷I̶ ̴g̵u̵e̶s̶s̴.̸”</p><p> </p><p>“As we said before you don’t have to die, and if you were pure evil you wouldn’t have helped us at all, even if it was for Gooey, just… think it over,” Rick said, jumping up towards the exit.</p><p> </p><p>*<em> Spending the rest of my existence with friends? Being a sibling to Gooey? Being cared for? </em></p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p><em> ...Being wanted? No, too happy an ending for me, definitely </em>*</p><p> </p><p>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</p><p> </p><p>Fluff didn’t even bother getting up this time.</p><p> </p><p>Yin-Yarn won, again, and Fluff just didn’t have the strength to get up this time, 12 times, he has attempted and failed to beat Yin-Yarn 12 times, what a failure. Fluff heard something open and looked up to see a faceless creature floating there, coming towards him, Fluff just couldn’t move.</p><p> </p><p>“Hey,” the faceless creature said.</p><p> </p><p>“Oh, I thought that was just a filter on the intercom, didn’t realize your voice was just that deep,” Fluff said, not bothering to move</p><p> </p><p>“It is a filter on the intercom, it’s also a spell, as is the one that takes away my face, can’t have you knowing what I look or sound like,” the villain explained.</p><p> </p><p>“What, would I recognize you?”</p><p> </p><p>“You wouldn’t, others would, can’t have you telling those others.”</p><p> </p><p>“Guess that makes sense,” Fluff flatly said.</p><p> </p><p>“Prince Fluff,” the creature sighed, sitting down, “are you gonna get back up?”</p><p> </p><p>“...no,” Fluff choked, growing tears in his eyes.</p><p> </p><p>“...good, I’ve been trying to get you to stop this whole time,” the creature started, “Prince Fluff, this wasn’t finished.”</p><p> </p><p>“W-what?” Fluff asked, looking at the creature now.</p><p> </p><p>“Yeah… you joined late, a little too late, you’re lucky you even got a room,” the creature said, scratching their face, “I had barely enough time to grab Yin-Yarn from time, and I didn’t have enough to know what a metamortex was.”</p><p> </p><p>“What do you mean?”</p><p> </p><p>“Prince Fluff, this fight was unwinnable for you,” the villain explained, “I didn’t know you and Kirby used a metamortex to beat Yin-Yarn because… I didn’t know what they were, I didn’t have enough time to research it,” the villain chuckled, “ironic is it? No matter how much I break time I never have enough…”</p><p> </p><p>“S-so I’m a failure?”</p><p> </p><p>“No! Um- no, Prince Fluff, <em> I </em> was the one who messed up, I couldn’t get you the metamortex to make the fight fair, or cut out Yin-Yarn’s second phase like I did with others, this fight was unfair and rigged essentially.”</p><p> </p><p>“So I’ve been beating a brick wall head-first?”</p><p> </p><p>“No, you were beating a brick wall that was painted to look like plastic.”</p><p> </p><p>“Y-yeah I- ...I guess that makes sense.”</p><p> </p><p>“Listen, Prince Fluff, I don’t like seeing people cry, and you’ve been at this unfair fight for a while, so I’ll cut you a deal,” the villain proposed, catching Fluff’s attention, “I will give you the emblem, and you can walk out of here scot-free, I won’t tell the others that you didn’t beat him, you can if you want, but I won’t force you, hell, you can even tell them you stomped him into the ground, he was just persistent,” the villain chuckled, “all I ask in return, is that you tell them I’m sorry in advance.”</p><p> </p><p>“O-okay? D-deal I guess…”</p><p> </p><p>“Okay, here’s the emblem,” the villain said, taking a wooden emblem out of their pocket, Fluff grabbed it and saw it read ‘Feels Like Pants’, Fluff chuckled at the emblem, “Yeah I thought it was funny too, you need any help? Can you walk?”</p><p> </p><p>“Y-yeah I’m fine.”</p><p> </p><p>“Okay, if you fall I’ll cast a healing spell, okay?”</p><p> </p><p>“O-okay.”</p><p> </p><p>“Okay, have a safe walk, Prince Fluff,” the villain said, walking back into their lair.</p><p> </p><p>Prince Fluff sat there for a second and thought *<em> What kind of villain forfeits because the fight was unfair? How evil can this person really be </em>* before jumping up to the hall, and walking back to the main room.</p><p> </p><p>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</p><p> </p><p>Susie was inspecting the bars of her cell again when Magolor came sliding down into the prison with her.</p><p> </p><p>“Was he going to talk about his plans with Morpho?”</p><p> </p><p>“Yep.”</p><p> </p><p>“Great, that gives us time to inspect the bars for a weak point.”</p><p> </p><p>“You’ve been at this for hours, Susie, you’re not going to find one, he took away my magic and your tech, we aren’t getting out,” Magolor stated, “Might as well sit back and wait for the others to get down here.”</p><p> </p><p>“I refuse to play damsel in distress,” Susie said, glaring at Magolor, “I’m going to find a way out before they get here.”</p><p> </p><p>“Good luck trying, and even if you do find one, what’s the plan?” Magolor asked, “You don’t know where he’s keeping your stuff, you’ll probably just run into him and he’ll put you in the cage again!”</p><p> </p><p>“Magolor… how do you sit back and let the world run its course?” Susie replied, “How are you content letting others decide your fate, never trying to change it?”</p><p> </p><p>“You see THERE’s the miscommunication, I choose my own fate, I just don’t fight for lost causes.”</p><p> </p><p>“Then why did you become friends with Kirby?!” Susie snapped.</p><p> </p><p>“What?”</p><p> </p><p>“Magolor, you tried to kill them, you stabbed them in the back, betrayed their trust, getting that back should’ve been a lost cause, why did you persist!?”</p><p> </p><p>“...because,” Magolor sighed, “because I needed to, because if I didn’t become their friend, if I didn’t get their trust back… I would’ve been alone,” Magolor explained, “at that point I hadn’t’ve seen Marx in years, and the Lor keeps good company but… you can’t just talk to one person your whole life, if I didn’t become their friend I… wouldn’t’ve had any friends.”</p><p> </p><p>“...Magolor I-” Susie started, “I’m sorry for getting angry I just… need to know why he’s doing this.”</p><p> </p><p>“Trust me Susie I want to know too, but… I think our best option is to wait for the others, they’ll come, I’m sure of that.”</p><p> </p><p>Susie looked over at the person unconscious in the cage next to her, “You think he’s ever gonna wake up?”</p><p> </p><p>“Eh, probably when the others get here, but only because of Marx.”</p><p> </p><p>“But until then… wanna help me search for a weak point?”</p><p> </p><p>“*<em> sigh* </em>fine. One more time.”</p><p> </p><p>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</p><p> </p><p>Adeleine stared at the hall in front of her, scared for her life, she wasn’t a fighter! She was an artist! This was out of her league! Ribbon and Marx tried to be encouraging but… they just didn’t help. Fluff came back, which was nice, he put his emblem in the door and all, and Adeleine <em> really </em>wanted to talk about a world literally made of art, essentially heaven, but she had to do this first!</p><p> </p><p>“I’m sure it’ll be fine,” Ribbon comforted, trying and failing to push Adeleine into the hall, “we’ll do great, now walk in please.”</p><p> </p><p>“I-I-I-I don’t know if we can do this R-Ribbon.”</p><p> </p><p>“We can! Now go through the hall!”</p><p> </p><p>“B-b-b-b-but <em> 0² </em>’s down this hall!”</p><p> </p><p>“I know, Addie, but we can do this, we have your art skills! Just paint Kracko or something and he’ll go down like nothing!”</p><p> </p><p>“T-that’s not how it’ll happen!”</p><p> </p><p>“Addie, he went down to my crystal gun, we have my crystal gun, therefore we can take him down.”</p><p> </p><p>“B-b-but what if we don’t?”</p><p> </p><p>“*<em> sigh </em>* Addie, look at me,” Ribbon said, turning the artist around, who looked terrified, “I don’t want to fight 0² either, but we have to, to continue, we have to do, if for nothing else, then for Magolor and Susie.”</p><p> </p><p>Adeleine thought about her friends, being held captive, and that gave her barely enough motivation to be able to go into the hall, “O-okay, l-let’s do it.”</p><p> </p><p>Walking into the hall, (I want you to take a wild guess what happens, go on, guess, what happened? Is it; A: The emblem is right there on the floor, B: 0² is already dead, C: A bunch of fucking images from a game I haven’t played show up, or D: The villain is there and reveals his identity.)</p><p> </p><p>(<em> Ding ding ding </em>, that’s right! I have to watch a bunch of fucking cutscenes! YAY!)</p><p> </p><p>If the narrator would shut up, a bunch of pictures began to appear on the walls, firstly was Ribbon meeting Kirby for the first time,</p><p> </p><p>“I’m conflicted,” Ribbon commented.</p><p> </p><p>“Really? Why?”</p><p> </p><p>“Through that I got to meet Kirby, but Ripple Star got taken over.”</p><p> </p><p>“Well… you got to make a new friend who saved Ripple Star, so I’d say that’s a win.”</p><p> </p><p>“Yeah I guess.”</p><p> </p><p>Secondly, there was an image of Adeleine possessed by Dark Matter fighting Kirby, Addie quickly walked by that picture. Thirdly was a picture of Dedede possessed by Dark Matter, which isn’t really anything special nowadays.</p><p> </p><p>“You ever think Dark Matter gets mad about Dedede being possessed so often?” Ribbon asked.</p><p> </p><p>“What do you mean?”</p><p> </p><p>“Well I just imagine Dark Matter being all like ‘Possessing Dedede was MY thing! It was special! Now anybody on the street can do it’” Ribbon joked, using a mock-impression of the villain.</p><p> </p><p>Adeleine chuckled, “I can imagine Dark Matter pouting over the Jamba Hearts.”<br/><br/></p><p>After that the fourth image was of the picnic on Rock Star, which was a simple and nice memory. Fifthly was an image of Kirby, Adeleine, Ribbon, Dedede, and the Waddle Dee travelling to Ripple Star, which was an exciting memory to recall. Lastly, above the doorway, was a picture of Kirby and Ribbon fighting 0², which caused Adeleine to gulp. Jumping down into the side room, there was someone floating in the shadows, I mean there would be, if Daroach and Bandana hadn’t have told everyone that they were holograms. Instead of bothering with anything, the hologram activated the fake Time Breaker, and disappeared, leaving 0² in its place, which instantly cause Adeleine to hide behind her canvas, Ribbon whispered into Addie’s ear, which got her to put the canvas away and face the biblically accurate angel. 0² stared at the duo, focusing mainly on Ribbon, that butterfly creature had informed it that the fairy would be its undoing, wasting no time, 0² fired a few blasts towards the fairy, who was pulled out of the way by Addie.</p><p> </p><p>“Addie, could you pain Waiu real quick?”</p><p> </p><p>“Uhhh, s-sure,” Addie stuttered, still not over how terrifying the eye looked, speaking of the eye, it fired a few more bolts a Ribbon, who flew out of the way, Adeleine finished painting Waiu, and Ribbon flew over and picked up Adeleine, who was riding Waiu.</p><p> </p><p>“That is surprisingly light,” Ribbon commented.</p><p> </p><p>“It’s just liquid paint, isn’t very heavy.”</p><p> </p><p>Waiu, using a very simple art-based train of thought which was essentially “Throw” over and over again, began chucking cutters at 0², which was exactly what Ribbon wanted, handing Adeleine the crystal gun, Adeleine fired a few shots at the demon as well, 0², infuriated, tried to ram directly into the duo (or trio if you count the ninja), but failed as Ribbon isn’t blind. 0², stunned from hitting a wall, revealed the weak point on it’s head, and was promptly bombarded by crystals and cutters, which flipped it over, revealing the only true way to hurt the eye, the spike on its bottom. 0² tried to release poison, yes, literal poison, but that didn’t work out too well, which caused the eye to start crying blood (what is this, a bad Creepypasta?), enraged 0² got up and glared at the duo, then shot a laser at Waiu, destroying the painting.</p><p> </p><p>“Well that’s a shame,” Ribbon commented.</p><p> </p><p>0², pissed, shot lasers and exploding bolts at the floor beneath the artist and the fairy, lighting it on fire so they couldn’t land.</p><p> </p><p>“Oh that’s a real big shame,” Ribbon added, now scared.</p><p> </p><p>0² roared(?) and began firing more bolts at the duo, which was entirely reliant on Ribbon not falling out of the sky.</p><p> </p><p>“This. Is. Much. More Difficult. Then. It. Looks,” Ribbon groaned, struggling.</p><p> </p><p>0² then attempted to fire a sweeping laser to eradicate the duo, but was stopped by a crystal to the eye, which wasn’t pleasant for 0², why screamed in pain. Adeleine, seeing this opportunity, began just firing in the general direction of 0² and praying it worked, luckily, it did. 0² didn’t have a chance to rebound from the crystals being lodged in its eye, then it’s head, then it’s spike, knocking the Dark Matter Angel-Demon down. 0² turned even whiter, then disappeared, which caused the room the flash, fixing the floor. Ribbon instantly let go of Adeleine near the floor and just fell out of the air, landing on the ground, praying to whatever god would listen that she never have to fly and carry something while being shot at by a demon ever again (it hasn’t happened a lot but it’s weird it happened twice). Adeleine noticed the emblem on the ground, picking it up, she saw that it read ‘Artful Adventurers’, satisfied, she picked up Ribbon, who was now asleep, and left to go back to the main room.</p><p> </p><p>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</p><p> </p><p>Morpho was watching the security footage with extreme rage, this was what they woke up and decided to team with? THIS? SHE’S A FUCKING CHILD! 0² IS A GOD FIGURE! THAT SHOULDN’T HAVE EVEN BEEN A FIGHT, MORE A FLY FLYING INTO A SPIDER WEB!</p><p> </p><p>So yeah Morpho wasn’t happy.</p><p> </p><p>It didn’t help that Galacta was in their thoughts, insisting that they be let out, like, yes Galacta, I, the God of Death and Judgement, will give up my body to a simple warrior.</p><p> </p><p>This villain they have teamed with wasn’t helping, constantly insisting on BeInG a GoOd PeRsOn, YOU’RE TEAMING WITH DEATH AND BREAKING TIME! CUT THE DAMN ACT!</p><p> </p><p>“Morpho, I don’t know if you know this, but your thoughts are so obvious I can practically read your mind.”</p><p> </p><p>“Silence fool,” Morpho growled</p><p> </p><p>“I control this operation Morpho, you only get something out of this if <em> I </em>succeed, so even if you hate me, if you want a new soul in your collection, you're gonna have to deal with it.”</p><p> </p><p>“You <em> dare </em> threaten me!?”</p><p> </p><p>“Morpho I will eat you.”</p><p> </p><p>“...”</p><p> </p><p>“...”</p><p> </p><p>“What?”</p><p> </p><p>“I said I will eat you.”</p><p> </p><p>“What the fuck?”</p><p> </p><p>“Outside of Galacta’s form you’re just a butterfly, I could eat you.”</p><p> </p><p>“That is the dumbest thing I have heard in my entire life.”</p><p> </p><p>“How so?”</p><p> </p><p>“I’m a butterfly, we’re poisonous.”</p><p> </p><p>“I thought you were venomous?” Magolor asked from the side.</p><p> </p><p>“If you bite it and you die it’s poison, if it bites or stings you and you die it’s venomous,” the villain explained.</p><p> </p><p>“But anyway, we’re poisonous, you couldn’t eat me.”</p><p> </p><p>“Well I could, I just would live too, also my digestive system is more advanced then, like, a bird’s, I could be immune.”</p><p> </p><p>“That is not how poison works.”</p><p> </p><p>Magolor looked on from the side, and decided to stir chaos, “You know there’s probably a timeline where you two are madly in love.”</p><p> </p><p>“NO-”</p><p> </p><p>“SHUT THE FUCK UP-”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Sorry if the jokes in the narration were unfunny, but I thought they were.</p><p>Oh boy I can't wait to have to do this again but with 7 characters instead of 6.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Inside The Dragon's Den</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>We continue watching as our heroes fight their past enemies, but, some of them learn a little more then they should.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This chapter was a 10,000 word nightmare to make.</p><p>Hell, this got so boring I made a goddamn tier list on how good the fights are imo;</p><p>F: Sectonia, Masked Dedede, Nightmare<br/>D: Marx, 0<br/>C: 02, Dark Mind, Magolor<br/>B: Dedede, Dark Matter<br/>A: Dark Daroach, Yin-Yarn<br/>S: Star Dream</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Magolor lazily laid in his cell, watching his enemy play with one of his precious Halandran artifacts. Honestly it was a little insulting, Magolor? Best wizard in Dreamland? Have one of his race’s own artifacts be used against him? Blasphemy!</p><p> </p><p>“Hey Mags, y’know this thing can actually see into different timelines?”</p><p> </p><p>“Wait, really?” Okay maybe Magolor didn’t know EVERYTHING about his artifacts.</p><p> </p><p>“Yeah I’ve seen quite a few interesting ones, there’s one where instead of meeting through the Dream Palaces, we actually met through the chatroom that Susie made.”</p><p> </p><p>“Huh, sounds interesting.”</p><p> </p><p>“Yeah then there’s another one where the Mage Sisters and Susie are mobsters, and you and Meta are dating.”</p><p> </p><p>“I can’t really see Susie running a gang, or me dating Meta, ew.”</p><p> </p><p>“Yeah, then there’s one that had all of Dreamland freeze over except for Francisca, Susie, and Kirby, soon after they met the timeline seems to have broken though.”</p><p> </p><p>“Sad, that sounds kind of interesting.”</p><p> </p><p>“Yeah, after that there’s a timeline where Vividria brought Drawcia back to life.”</p><p> </p><p>“Hopefully Vivid isn’t that stupid,” (She is)</p><p> </p><p>“Here’s a fun one, it’s a timeline where instead of three Mage Sisters, there were five.”</p><p> </p><p>“Huh, sounds interesting.”</p><p> </p><p>“Yeah, apparently Kirby couldn’t even beat all five of them in Another Dimension on his own, he needed help from every Star Ally.”</p><p> </p><p>“Huh, sounds rough.”</p><p> </p><p>“Now here’s a weird one,” the villain started, moving the Time Breaker to show a new timeline, “it’s one where we’re all Adeleine’s species.”</p><p> </p><p>“Weird already.”</p><p> </p><p>“Yeah, and then there’s no Dreamland, no Popstar, not even the Gamble Galaxy, just this weird place called Earth.”</p><p> </p><p>“Feel like Aqua would be a better name for a planet that blue,” Magolor commented, seeing the amount of ocean on the planet.</p><p> </p><p>“Yeah, and we all met in group therapy, instead of fighting a world destroying monster, mostly because there’s no world destroying monsters.”</p><p> </p><p>“LUCKY!”</p><p> </p><p>“I KNOW! But then, there’s an even weirder one.”</p><p> </p><p>“<em> How? </em>”</p><p> </p><p>“So, firstly, Nightmare isn’t an entity, it’s a corporation.”</p><p> </p><p>“What the fuck?”</p><p> </p><p>“Secondly, a lot of us don’t exist, you don’t exist, Marx doesn’t exist, Gooey doesn’t exist, the only ones who seem to exist are Kirby, Dedede, Meta, Rick, Kine, and Coo.”</p><p> </p><p>“No Bandana?”</p><p> </p><p>“No Bandana! Also, Dedede isn’t the understanding guy we know, he buys monsters off of Nightmare and sicks them on Dreamland, which is weird, Meta Knight is less a knight and more a sensei.”</p><p> </p><p>“Dear Nova this timeline sounds dreadful.”</p><p> </p><p>“Coo is more a wise sage then a cranky helper, Kine is just creepy, in comparing these two worlds, the only constant seems to be Rick, who has stayed mostly the same.”</p><p> </p><p>“Well that’s nice at least.”</p><p> </p><p>“Yeah, then there’s Kirby, while in astral years, Kirby is <em> technically </em> a baby, in ours he’s about 16 right?”</p><p> </p><p>“Right.”</p><p> </p><p>“Yeah, well, in this universe he’s an actual baby, has absolutely no train of thought.”</p><p> </p><p>“How does he save Dreamland again?”</p><p> </p><p>“He’s still Kirby.”</p><p> </p><p>“Gotcha.”</p><p> </p><p>“Also the copy abilities are kind of a big deal in this dimension, like, Kirby has to try really hard to get one, whereas in our dimension-”</p><p> </p><p>“He can just eat any poor bitch off the street for a power up.”</p><p> </p><p>“Yeah, it’s just.. so odd, also Knuckle Joe is purple.”</p><p> </p><p>“Why is Knuckle Joe purple?”</p><p> </p><p>“I don’t know he just is.”</p><p> </p><p>“Wow that is… odd.”</p><p> </p><p>“Yeah, also Dedede has a snail-looking assistant.”</p><p> </p><p>“Bandana sounds better.”</p><p> </p><p>“Bandana IS better.”</p><p> </p><p>“I believe in Bandana superiority!”</p><p> </p><p>“Yes!”</p><p> </p><p>Morpho stared at the two supposed enemies and muttered “Dear me these two are massive fucking nerds.”</p><p> </p><p>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</p><p> </p><p>Dark Matter stared at Gooey, who was standing in front of their door, labeled ‘KD3’, and couldn’t help but feel <strike><em> scared </em></strike> anxious. Gooey was growing up, while for most creatures this means very little, for a piece of Dark Matter? Oh boy, Gooey could grow up to be the next 0 if DMS wasn’t careful, and at this point? The stress of having to help another piece of Dark Matter take over the world could break DMS, last time they helped, Dark Crafter was fucking stupid and got knocked out of Claycia, nobody knew of them helping that excursion, mostly because DMS made sure of it, but still. Also there’s that one time DMS’ magic was weakened and essentially took away their object permanence, fucking Knuckle Joe thought it was funny.</p><p> </p><p>========================================================================================</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Five Years Ago</b>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> “Get back here you bitch! You just lit me on fire! This is so much worse than stealing my sword!” </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> “Ehh, to me it seems like an appropriate response!” Knuckle Joe replied, running into a house. </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> “Where’d he go?” DMS asked, Knuckle Joe opened the door, confused, and saw Dark Matter, “There you are! Joe! Where’d he go?” Knuckle Joe closed the door, Knuckle Joe chuckled to himself and opened then closed the door, which caused DMS to turn around, “Huh? What? Oh well, I’ll just go find my-” Joe opened the door again.  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> “Wait a second. Joe! You get back here! You’d-” Joe closed the door again.  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> “Where’d he go?” Joe started laughing, “He must’ve gone back to the hills, gotta go find my-” DMS saw Joe in the house.  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> “Wait a second. Joe! Give me my sword! Where’d he go?” Joe started wheezing.  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> “Well, I guess I’ll go try and possess- Wait a second. Get back here! Joe!” Joe closed the door. </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> “Where’d he go?” Joe actually had trouble breathing now, despite this, he opened the door again.  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> “This is a game of mental ping-pong. Am I having a panic attack? Joe there you are!” Joe closed the door again, “Where’d he go?” </em>
</p><p> </p><p>========================================================================================</p><p> </p><p>Joe was tortured in the tickle bubble for that one.</p><p> </p><p>DMS was about to try and trick Gooey into not accidentally releasing their power, but when they looked back Gooey was already in the hall.</p><p> </p><p>*<em> Oh dear, this is gonna be bad </em>* DMS thought.</p><p> </p><p>Meanwhile, Gooey was having the time of their life hopping down the hall, and then, several images began to appear on the walls (I’m not continuing the joke). The first image showed Dark Matter taking over Dreamland, swallowing the skies, Gooey smiled at the image of their older sibling. The second image was of Kirby, Rick, and Coo playing kickball with Gooey as the ball before getting yelled at by Chu-Chu in Sand Canyon, surprisingly, Gooey wasn’t actually harmed by the game, but Chu-Chu punting Gooey into a wall? That hurt, Gooey wasn’t a fan of that memory. The third image was of Kirby fighting Adeleine in Cloudy Park, Gooey frowned, they didn’t like it when their friends fought. The fourth image was of Gooey being made into a snowman by Nago, Pitch, and Chu-Chu in Iceberg, Gooey always found that event funny. The fifth image showed Kirby and Gooey entering the Hyper Zone to fight Dark Matter, Gooey never really understood all the fighting, why not just eat cake? Cake is nice. The final image was above a doorway, it was one of Kirby and Gooey fighting 0, who was overly mean in Gooey’s humble opinion. Jumping down into the big room in front of them, the room was empty, didn’t everyone else say something about a fake person?</p><p> </p><p>Suddenly, the mic came on, “Hi Gooey!”</p><p> </p><p>“Is that Gooey? Hi Gooey!” Magolor said in the background.</p><p> </p><p>“Friend? Mag… Magowor!”</p><p> </p><p>“...Are you-” Magowor Magolor was cut off by hysterical laughter, “It’s not that funny…” the voice continued to laugh. “Seriously, it’s not funny,” the laughing persisted, “OKAY NOW YOU’RE JUST FORCING YOUR LAUGH!”</p><p> </p><p>“<em> MAGOWOR! HAHA- </em>” the voice’s wheezing was cut off by the intercom turning off. Suddenly, the room flashed white, and in front of Gooey was a giant eyeball.</p><p> </p><p>“<b> <em>This is why I awoke this morning?</em> </b> ” 0 asked, “ <b> <em>To fight a defective fool?</em> </b>”</p><p> </p><p>Gooey licked the top of their head and said “that’s meannnn.”</p><p> </p><p>“<b> <em>Dear me this is going to be stupid, alright, time to die failure</em> </b>.”</p><p> </p><p>Gooey got a little angry at the mean comment and turned into Mock Matter mode, and shot a laser at the eye.</p><p> </p><p>“<b> <em>Ow, well that was annoying you little gnat,</em> </b> ” 0 growled, growing and sending out some Dark Matter minions, Gooey easily dodged them, each one hitting the wall behind them, “ <b> <em>maybe they’re the defective ones, seems I must do things myself</em> </b>.” 0 began shooting red bolts at Gooey, who dodged out of the way of most of them, but got hit by the last, annoyed that they were hurt, Gooey began firing actual Mock Matter laser blasts instead of the normal ones.</p><p> </p><p>“I Remember You Now, you hurt my friends! You’re mean!!!!!” Gooey yelled, turning into a larger form, “I’m not going to be nice anymore!”, they yelled.</p><p> </p><p>“<b> <em>Adorable, the defective one is fighting back,</em> </b> ” 0 mused, summoning some Dark Matters, “ <b> <em>quick, point and laugh at them,</em> </b>” 0 ordered, causing all the dark clouds to laugh at Gooey, who was getting pretty angry, 0 however, did not care, and proceeded to try and zap Gooey with a laser. This attack failed, and Gooey began to grow larger, and began to seriously hurt 0 with lasers, who was not amused.</p><p> </p><p>“<b> <em>STUPID DEFIANT SCUM!</em> </b> ” the eye screamed, “ <b> <em>I’LL BURN YOU!</em> </b>”</p><p> </p><p>0 began firing cheeky laser blasts at Gooey, who, at this point, was beginning to look like a certain Swordsman.</p><p> </p><p>“<b> <em>Copying Dark Matter Blade I see,</em> </b> ” 0 commented, “ <b> <em>foolish copy, it won’t work.</em> </b>”</p><p> </p><p>Gooey then managed to form a rainbow blade.</p><p> </p><p>“<b> <em>...okay maybe it will work.</em> </b>” 0 added, concerned.</p><p> </p><p>Gooey, downright pissed at 0, began attacking the eye with their newfound sword, DMS, who was using their eye form to look closer into the hall, had gotten very worried.</p><p> </p><p>*<em> Oh dear this is bad. </em>*</p><p> </p><p>After a quick stab in the iris, 0 began to bleed, profusely, and screamed, slowly dying, painfully I should add, Gooey nonchalantly turned back into their normal round form like nothing happened, and turned to see 0 flash white, the disappear, leaving behind an emblem. Picking up the emblem, Gooey saw it read “Who...Me?”, smiling as always, Gooey hopped back to the main group.</p><p> </p><p>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</p><p> </p><p>The villain looked at the footage, terrified, turning around, he saw Magolor and Susie were just as scared as him.</p><p> </p><p>“Don’t fuck with Gooey, got it,” Susie commented.</p><p> </p><p>“Is Dark Matter corrupting Gooey?” Magolor asked.</p><p> </p><p>“Judging by the footage, they’re just as scared as we are.”</p><p> </p><p>“Oh dear.”</p><p> </p><p>“Yeah, um, let’s just, get back to making copy abilities for Kirby, uhh Mags, what did you say Kirby could have?”</p><p> </p><p>“Oh, right, uhh, my idea was two abilities based off of Mr. Shine and Mr. Bright,” Magolor suggested.</p><p> </p><p>“Okay, I like that, Susie? You have any ideas? We need one more for it to be fair.”</p><p> </p><p>“Well you’re breaking time right? How about a time ability?”</p><p> </p><p>“Oooo sounds fun, but how would I make it?”</p><p> </p><p>“Oh! Y’know that little guy that runs around Towara? Hourlee I think they were called?” Magolor asked.</p><p> </p><p>“Yeah? You think they could give a time ability?”</p><p> </p><p>“Probably, I mean, they call themself a time-keeper, Kirby could probably get an ability from that,” Magolor explained.</p><p> </p><p>“So I make Bright and Shine and get Hourlee for Time?”</p><p> </p><p>“Yeah that sounds good,” Susie replied.</p><p> </p><p>“Alright, now, time to make the hats, any ideas for Shine?”</p><p> </p><p>“Oh! Oh! Y’know that one play? Nightmare in Dreamland?”</p><p> </p><p>“Yeah, why?”</p><p> </p><p>“Why not use the mask from the villain? Claydin I think his name was?” Susie suggested, thinking of the play’s anti-hero, played by a Rocky.</p><p> </p><p>“I always called him the original incel,” Magolor joked.</p><p> </p><p>“Nice one <em> Magowor </em>-”</p><p> </p><p>“DO NOT-”</p><p> </p><p>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</p><p> </p><p>Meta Knight was having trouble processing all the information he’s been given, according to everyone so far, the person they’re fighting is from Popstar, isn’t Galacta Knight, according to Fluff, is SORRY for doing this, according to Dark Matter and the Animal Trio, is working with Morpho Knight, and keeps Magolor in the surveillance room so they can talk? What kind of villain is this? Anyways, Meta decided it was time for him to go through his hall, which was labelled ‘KA’, but not before taking a quick glance towards the Mage Sisters, Francisca was crying and was being comforted by Flamberge and Zan, if for nothing else, no matter how nice this villain acts, he’s heartless for doing this to them. Walking through the hall, a bunch of images began to appear on the walls. Firstly was Kirby’s duel with Blade Knight in Vegetable Valley, in which he lost but swallowed Blade Knight to make it look like he won, Meta had since taught him to admit defeat and not eat your opponent in a blind rage. The second image was of Kirby fighting Mr. Shine and Mr. Bright, y’know, if Kirby can beat that sun and moon, why couldn’t Kirby just beat up the actual sun and moon to get them to stop fighting? Ignoring that conundrum, Meta saw the third image, which was of Kirby climbing the mountain in Yogurt Yard, maybe Meta would have to train Kirby to control his temper, he’s surprisingly volatile. Fourthly was an image of Meta’s first duel with Kirby, instead of reminiscing about the fight, Meta opted to reminisce about how Kirby could not figure out why Meta wouldn’t fight him, It was adorable, truly, Meta wished he had a phone back then, could’ve recorded that. Fifthly was Dedede begging Kirby to not put the Star Rod in the Fountain of Dreams, I mean, yeah, he was right, but swimming in the damn fountain didn’t help his case. The last image was above a doorway, it was one of Kirby fighting Nightmare, which caused Meta Knight to groan, remembering who he had to fight, *<em> Remember, if for nothing, it’s for Magolor and Susie </em>* he thought. Jumping into the room at the end of the hall, the intercom came on.</p><p> </p><p>“Hey Meta,” the voice started, “y’know there’s an alternate timeline where you and Magowor are dat-”</p><p> </p><p>The voice was cut off by Magolor yelling “SHUT THE FUCK UP!” and Susie’s hysterical laughter. Then the room flashed white, which made Nightmare appear in front of Meta Knight.</p><p> </p><p>“Well, well, well,” Nightmare chuckled, “If it isn’t Meta Knight, how’s it been going?”</p><p> </p><p>“Pretty good, considering Kirby killed you,” Meta Knight snapped.</p><p> </p><p>“Doubtful, that astral is a mere baby, I’ve defeated Galacta Knight, what chance does a child have?”</p><p> </p><p>“Well considering you have the mental capabilities of a babbling toddler I wouldn’t be so quick to write off Kirby.”</p><p> </p><p>“You <b>DARE!?</b>” Nightmare screamed, opening his cloak to send out stars, which was exactly what Meta wanted, so Meta returned with a quick slash.</p><p> </p><p>“Yes, I do dare.”</p><p> </p><p>Nightmare responded by doing that thing every Kirby boss seems to love to do and tried to ram Meta Knight, who dodged out of the way and counterstriked(? Is that a word? Or is it counterstruck? Fuck it he CS:GO’d him). Nightmare began teleport spamming before appearing behind Meta and attempting to swipe at the Knight, who jumped up and stabbed Nightmare’s face, who screamed in pain. Nightmare staggered back, grabbing his face, and stupidly left his coat open, allowing Meta to wail on the wounded wizard. Enraged, Nightmare grabbed Meta and slammed him against the wall, cracking it, then, the intercom turned on.</p><p> </p><p>“Do that again Nightmare, I dare you,” a voice growled over the mic, and then the intercom turned off, Nightmare, not caring about what this idiot wanted, grabbed Meta again and threw him against another wall, which broke the wall open, revealing a hidden room. Nightmare then screamed in pain, and was thrown against the wall by something invisible, then he disappeared, leaving behind an emblem. Meta looked around the room, it seemed to be more of a break room then anything, there was a desk to the right with a journal and three small bins on it, one was labeled “Useless to Me”, one was labeled “Could Be Useful”, and the last read “I Don’t Know”, looking on the desk, Meta noticed a small black box on it, Meta grabbed it and opened it, revealing a topaz engagement ring inside. Meta didn’t know what he was looking at, until he blinked and it, and the journal, were gone, then Meta realized.</p><p> </p><p>Taranza was going to propose to Zan before he got kidnapped, and that ring was stolen from him.</p><p> </p><p>Meta looked to his left and saw a door, he went to open it but was teleported outside the room, which was now repaired. Meta looked towards the camera and, with a enraged tone in his voice, growled, “You’re a sick fucking bastard,” he walked over to the emblem on the ground, seeing it read ‘Scourge of Darkness’ then, he walked back to the main room.</p><p> </p><p>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</p><p> </p><p>The villain toyed with the engagement ring box in his hands, noticing this, Magolor asked “What’re you gonna do with that?”</p><p> </p><p>“I don’t know… sell it? Maybe? That feels wrong though…”</p><p> </p><p>“You keep us in cages in a damn storage room.”</p><p> </p><p>“Yeah, yeah, I know.”</p><p> </p><p>“You do know he still hasn’t woken up right?” Magolor asked.</p><p> </p><p>“Hm? Oh, yeah, he’s… probably fine.”</p><p> </p><p>“Sure, pal,” Magolor mused, “sure.”</p><p> </p><p>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</p><p> </p><p>“Oh yeah you can join the Allies, Kirby you okay with this?” Dedede asked, replying to Prince Fluff.</p><p> </p><p>“Poyo!”</p><p> </p><p>“That would be a yes, so uh, welcome, we save the world sometimes.”</p><p> </p><p>“I am a little worried that I won’t be able to help much…” Fluff added.</p><p> </p><p>“Don’t worry, we won’t call on you for everything, it’s purely your choice if you want to help or not, I mean, half the time Magolor isn’t even in the Gamble Galaxy, he’s out doing something else.”</p><p> </p><p>“Poyo!” Kirby excitedly said, seeing Meta walk back into the room.</p><p> </p><p>“Hm? Oh, yes, hi Kirby, could you give me a moment?” Meta asked, putting his emblem in the door.</p><p> </p><p>“Poyo.”</p><p> </p><p>“Thanks, Kirby,” Meta replied, walking towards the Mage Sisters, who were polishing their weapons, “Miss Partizanne?” he started.</p><p> </p><p>“Hmm?” Zan replied.</p><p> </p><p>“I.. have bad news.”</p><p> </p><p>“...What? What could’ve happened in there to make you have bad news?” Flamberge asked.</p><p> </p><p>Meta sighed, “Nightmare accidentally broke open a wall, and was killed over it, when I went in there there was a desk, for sorting items on it,” Meta started, “on it there was a box with an engagement ring in it.”</p><p> </p><p>“...Okay?”</p><p> </p><p>“Zan… that room was for sorting items from Magolor, Taranza, and Susie, Susie’s wearing her ring, and Magolor isn’t seeing anyone.”</p><p> </p><p>Zan froze with realization, “N-no.”</p><p> </p><p>“I hate to say it, Zan, but… Taranza was going to propose to you,” Meta regretfully stated. Zan dropped her weapon, and began to cry, and was immediately picked up and comforted by her sisters, “I just… I thought you deserved to know.”</p><p> </p><p>“N-no…” Zan shakily muttered.</p><p> </p><p>Dedede watched Zan cry, not hearing the conversation, “Hey Kirbs? I think we should get going, I think the quicker we’re done the better,” he said, grabbing his hammer and walking into the room labeled ‘KD’.</p><p> </p><p>“Poyo…” Kirby replied.</p><p> </p><p>Walking into the hall, a bunch of images began to appear in the walls, the first of which was Kirby first entering Green Greens, everything Kirby’s done, all caused by one, singular event.</p><p> </p><p>“Guess you really have come far huh?” Dedede rhetorically asked the puffball next to him.</p><p> </p><p>“Poyo!” Kirby happily replied.</p><p> </p><p>The next image that appeared was of Kirby fighting Whispy Woods.</p><p> </p><p>“You ever wonder if it’s the same Whispy every time, or is it a race of trees?” Dedede asked, to which Kirby shook his head no, “huh, guess I’m just weird then.”</p><p> </p><p>The third image to appear was of Kirby vs Lololo and Lalala.</p><p> </p><p>“Those two were always weird to me, who attacks with boxes? Let alone ones that you’ve been destroying the whole time.”</p><p> </p><p>“Poyo,” Kirby replied, shrugging.</p><p> </p><p>“Y’know, I’ve always wondered, why can’t you talk?” Dedede asked, “I mean, is it because you’re technically a baby? Because that doesn’t make much sense, Meta’s about 36, so, could he not talk until, like, 20? Because that’s kinda funny to imagine.”</p><p> </p><p>“Poyo,” Kirby answered, giggling at the thought of his mentor angrily yelling ‘POYO’ at a Poppy Bro.</p><p> </p><p>The fourth image was of Kirby fighting Kabula.</p><p> </p><p>“You ever think Kabula is gonna come back? They haven’t been around in a stupidly long time.”</p><p> </p><p>“Poyo.”</p><p> </p><p>“I mean, Whispy’s still around, Lololo and Lalala still pop in every now and again, and Kracko’s still angry, all the time, it’s odd Kabula hasn’t come back in a while.”</p><p> </p><p>The fifth image was of Kirby fighting the aforementioned Kracko.</p><p> </p><p>“You ever wonder why Kracko’s so angry?”</p><p> </p><p>“Poyo.”</p><p> </p><p>“On second thought it’s probably just cause we beat them up so much.”</p><p> </p><p>Lastly, above the doorway to the big room at the end, there was an image of King Dedede himself, to the left of the doorway was an unlocked metal locker.</p><p> </p><p>“What in the world…?” Dedede muttered, opening the locker revealed three hats, each with a label under it. “Huh, guess got some hats for you to make it a fair fight.”</p><p> </p><p>“Poyo!” Kirby excitedly exclaimed, moving to see the hats.</p><p> </p><p>The first one was a bowler hat, cane, and monocle, with the label under it reading ‘Time’, the second hat was a Nightmare In Dreamland (Phantom of the Opera) style mask, labelled ‘Shine’, the last hat was a crown on fire, labelled ‘Bright’.</p><p> </p><p>“Alrighty Kirbs, pick your poison.”</p><p> </p><p>Kirby looked at the selection of hats before sucking up and swallowing Shine, donning the mask.</p><p> </p><p>“Personally I would’ve gone for the fire crown,” Dedede joked, “alright, what’s that do?”</p><p> </p><p>Kirby held out one of his hands(?) towards Dedede, producing a beam of concentrated light, causing Dedede to yell.</p><p> </p><p>“OW YOU COULD’VE JUST DONE IT TOWARDS THE WALL YOU DIDN’T HAVE TO BLIND ME!”</p><p> </p><p>“Poyo!” Kirby apologetically yelled.</p><p> </p><p>“It’s fine, let’s just... go beat up me.”</p><p> </p><p>Jumping down into the main room, the intercom came on, “DAMN IT YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO PICK TIME!”</p><p> </p><p>Magolor laughed tauntingly in the background, “HA! COUGH UP YOUR MONEY DIPSHITS!”</p><p> </p><p>“Wait, MAGS! WHO’S DOING THIS!?”</p><p> </p><p>“OH YEAH IT’S-” the mic was turned off, cutting Magolor off.</p><p> </p><p>“I was really hoping that would work,” Dedede groaned.</p><p> </p><p>The room then proceeded to flash white, making Past Dedede appear before Current Dedede and Kirby.</p><p> </p><p>Past Dedede looked at Kirby and scowled, “So you’re the one that humiliates me!” Past Dedede then noticed his current counterpart, “and what are you? A fan?”</p><p> </p><p>“No I’m you from the future, and may I just say, wow, did I really use to be THAT short?”</p><p> </p><p>“Poyo!” Kirby confirmed, giggling.</p><p> </p><p>“Huh, wow, that’s… weird.”</p><p> </p><p>“Silence pretender!” Past Dedede yelled, “by royal decree you two are outlaws! And I’ll gladly take your heads off myself!” he continued, pulling out his hammer.</p><p> </p><p>Current Dedede and Kirby looked at each other, and Dedede decided to state the obvious; “You know we’re not an actual king right?”</p><p> </p><p>“SILENCE!”</p><p> </p><p>“Okay, well, we’re gonna stomp you into the pavement now.”</p><p> </p><p>“HA!” Past Dedede laughed, “I’d like to see you tr-” he was cut off by Current Dedede trying, and succeeding, at hitting him directly on the head with his hammer. “Ah! You little pest!”</p><p> </p><p>“I’m taller than you.”</p><p> </p><p>“SILENCE!”</p><p> </p><p>“Poyo,” Kirby deadpanned, blasting Past Dedede with a ray of light, which caused him to yelp.</p><p> </p><p>“Go nuts Kirb,” Dedede said, Kirby smiled and dashed towards his old rival, before Past Dedede could react, Kirby shined a blast of light directly in the king’s eyes. Past Dedede, pissed, tried to swing at Kirby, but was blocked by Current Dedede hitting him with his hammer. “This fight is like stepping on a kitten,” he commented.</p><p> </p><p>“Insufferable fools! I will have your heads!” Past Dedede yelled.</p><p> </p><p>Current Dedede looked at Kirby, then looked at his past self and said “You can try.” Kirby ran in for another assault, easily side-stepping the past king’s defensive swings, and blasted him with another blast of light to the eyes, staggering the king. Kirby looked at Current Dedede, and motioned for him to cover his eyes, Dedede complied and put his crown over his eyes. Kirby grinned, and knocked Past Dedede to the ground, Kirby then began to charge up Shine, Past Dedede got up, and saw Kirby was still, running towards him for a swing he thought he had won.</p><p> </p><p>Unlucky for him, he was looking directly at Kirby when he released the charge.</p><p> </p><p>Kirby lit up like a lightbulb, and gave off enough light energy to power a small country, all in that small room, right into the retinas of Past Dedede, who fell over in pain. Kirby stopped shining and looked at Past Dedede, who turned white, then vanished, leaving behind two emblems.</p><p> </p><p>“Poyo!” Kirby yelled, letting Dedede know he could look now, Dedede put his crown back on his head.<br/><br/></p><p>“You wanna know how bright that was?” Dedede asked, picking up the emblems, which read ‘Hero of Dreamland’ and ‘Fight for the Crown’ respectively.</p><p> </p><p>“Poyo?” Kirby asked.</p><p> </p><p>“I had solid gold over my eyes, and I shut them as hard as I could, and I could still see light.”</p><p> </p><p>“Poyo!” Kirby giggled.</p><p> </p><p>“Yeah, it was kinda impressive, let’s go back to the main room.”</p><p> </p><p>Walking down the hall, when Kirby was about to enter the main room, he hit a force field.</p><p> </p><p>“Poyo!” Kirby angrily yelled.</p><p> </p><p>Suddenly, the intercom came on, “Drop the hat.”</p><p> </p><p>“Poyo…”</p><p> </p><p>“Drop the hat Kirby, or you won’t be able to proceed.”</p><p> </p><p>Kirby mumbled something and dropped the hat.</p><p> </p><p>“Thank you,” the mic then turned off.</p><p> </p><p>“Stupid bitch…” Francisca muttered.</p><p> </p><p>“C’mon, Fran, this is our hall,” Flamberge said, motioning to the hall that read ‘KSA’ above it.</p><p> </p><p>Francisca sighed. “Okay, let’s go.”</p><p> </p><p>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</p><p> </p><p>Walking into the hall, images began to appear on the walls, the first of which being Kirby, Bandana, Marx, Rick, Kine, Coo, and Gooey fighting a possessed Dedede.</p><p> </p><p>“Rick was right, that is trippy,” Flamberge commented.</p><p> </p><p>“I still don’t know why he let you live in his castle after that,” Francisca replied.</p><p> </p><p>“Neither do I,” Flamberge responded.</p><p> </p><p>“I’m just impressed Dedede managed to hold them off as long as he did,” Zan added.</p><p> </p><p>The second image was of Kirby, Daroach, Adeleine, Ribbon, and Dark Meta Knight fighting a possessed Meta Knight.</p><p> </p><p>“Apparently Meta Knight doesn’t really get possessed like Dedede does,” Francisca commented.</p><p> </p><p>“Really? Was this his first time getting possessed or something?” Flamberge asked.</p><p> </p><p>“No, I heard Susie-” Zan started</p><p> </p><p>“Let’s continue you shall we?” Francisca yell-talked, cutting off Zan.</p><p> </p><p>“Okay… I guess.”</p><p> </p><p>The third image was of The Animal Trio, Marx, and Gooey fighting Francisca on the Blizzno Moon.</p><p> </p><p>Francisca glared at the image, Gooey licked her, and Marx was nothing but annoying the whole fight, he also had a Zap attachment to his ball, which made her water gun attack not very fun.</p><p> </p><p>“I still don’t know how you can stand Blizzno,” Flamberge started, “nothing’s even there except spikes and broken dreams.”</p><p> </p><p>“I could say the same about Sizzlai,” Francisca responded, pointing to the fourth image, which was of Daroach, Adeleine, Ribbon, and Dark Meta fighting Flamberge on the Sizzlai Moon.</p><p> </p><p>“Still can’t get over how Daroach tried to use a fire bomb on the fire mage,” Zan added, giggling.</p><p> </p><p>“And I can’t get over how an ice sword put out a lit fuse,” Flamberge groaned, seriously, that made no sense.</p><p> </p><p>The fifth image was of Magolor, Taranza, and Susie fighting Zan at the Divine Terminus, Zan glared at Hyness in the background of the picture, before chuckling to herself.</p><p> </p><p>“Huh? Zan? What is it?” Francisca asked.</p><p> </p><p>Zan giggled, “I just remembered, before the fight, Susie asked me if you were single.”</p><p> </p><p>“Wait what?” Flamberge asked, starting to laugh.</p><p> </p><p>“Yeah, and I was about to fight as well, I had my spear drawn and everything, but she just stopped me and asked if you were single.”</p><p> </p><p>Francisca laughed, “Oh that’s actually priceless.”</p><p> </p><p>Coming upon the doorway, the sisters saw the final painting, one of all the Star Allies fighting Hyness.</p><p> </p><p>“Is it bad I was hoping we would fight Void Termina?” Zan groaned, drawing her spear. Jumping down into the room there was… nothing, the intercom didn’t turn on, the room didn’t flash white, nothing happened. All there was was an open door on the opposite side of the room. Zan confusedly looked at her sisters, who were also confused, deforming her spear, she walked through the door, and saw a boarded up door to the right, on the left there was a table with a few chairs around it. On the table were a deck of playing cards, some sort of drink, and an emblem, which read ‘Prayers to Hope’.</p><p> </p><p>“No this… this can’t be right,” Zan commented, “we’re supposed to fight Hyness here right?”</p><p> </p><p>“Wrong,” a voice behind them called out.</p><p> </p><p>Zan instantly formed her spear and attempted to stab the person, the spear went right through and caused Zan to fall.</p><p> </p><p>“It’s a hologram, I’m not actually coming here.”</p><p> </p><p>Zan choked out an angry “What the fuck do you want?”</p><p> </p><p>The faceless hologram paused, “Are you gonna get up? I mean, I’m only projecting myself to talk, it’s hard to do that when you’re.. On the floor.”</p><p> </p><p>“Shut up and say what you’re going to do, what? Are you gonna taunt us? Tell us about how dead they are? Tell me about how I’m never gonna have the chance to propose now?” Zan muttered.</p><p> </p><p>The hologram stared at Zan, then looked up to stare at Francisca and Flamberge, with a wave of his hand, a screen appeared on the wall, showing live video feed from some kind of storage room, in it were three cages, holding Magolor, Taranza, and Susie respectively. Zan instantly zapped over to the feed to see Taranza, but noticed something off.</p><p> </p><p>Zan zapped towards the hologram, “Why isn’t he moving?” she growled.</p><p> </p><p>Calmly, the hologram said “I hit him pretty hard, he’s still unconscious, but he is still breathing, I checked.”</p><p> </p><p>Zan didn’t know whether or not she actually believed this, but she had to accept that as an answer, turning around, she saw Francisca inspecting the footage, staring at Susie. Floating next to her, Francisca put her head on Zan’s shoulder, staring at her fiancée.</p><p> </p><p>“I’m not a murderer, and I’m not heartless,” the hologram started, “unless you all want to, I will not force you to fight Hyness.”</p><p> </p><p>Zan was about to tell the hologram to summon Hyness, just so she could put him through the pain they were, but Flamberge grabbed her hand and stopped her.</p><p> </p><p>“It’s quicker to skip him, we need to get this over with quicker,” she explained.</p><p> </p><p>Defeated, Zan looked down and nodded, beginning to float to the doorway with her sisters following suit.</p><p> </p><p>The hologram watched, then removed the security footage, and then disappeared.</p><p> </p><p>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</p><p> </p><p>Coming back to the main room, the Mage Sisters put their emblem in the door, now, there was one tiny problem left.</p><p> </p><p>There were still four more slots and three more halls.</p><p> </p><p>“Okay… what now?” Dedede asked.</p><p> </p><p>The intercom cut on, “Bandana, Dedede, Meta, you three have an extra door, originally those doors were meant for others but… there were complications,” the voice explained, then the mic turned off.</p><p> </p><p>Zan shot a quick glare at the speaker in the room before looking at Bandana trying to figure out which door was his. Bandana’s nub fell through the door labelled ‘KRTD’.</p><p> </p><p>“Guess this is my extra door, I’ll see you guys in a bit.”</p><p> </p><p>Meta did something similar except with his sword, his sword fell through the hall labelled ‘KPR’, he sheathed his sword and walked through the hall. Instead of dragging his hand along the halls Dedede used basic process of elimination skills and walked through the hall labelled ‘KTD’.</p><p> </p><p>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</p><p> </p><p>Bandana walked through the hall, not fully knowing what to expect, when images began to appear on the walls. The first image was of Magolor lying unconscious on the ground, with Kirby, Dedede, Meta Knight, and Bandana surrounding him, Bandana instantly knew what this was and now knew what lied at the end of the hall.</p><p> </p><p>Magolor.</p><p> </p><p>Shaking off that thought, Bandana saw the second image, which was of the Lor’s oars being put on, Bandana remembered feeling so proud, if only that stayed. The third image was of the Lor’s mast being put on, the Lor was really thankful for that, so she told Bandana about Magolor’s secret ice cream stash, Bandana’s been helping himself to it, Magolor doesn’t know a thing. The fourth image was of the team landing on Halcandra, apparently if Magolor goes there again he’ll be incinerated on sight, that’s probably justified. The fifth image was of Magolor’s infamous speech about how “Obtaining the Master Crown was my ultimate goal all along,” he then proceeded to get the shit beat out of him. The last picture was of Magolor’s Master Crown form, apparently, according to Marx at least, Magolor still has an eye for a mouth. Jumping down into the main room, Bandana waited for the room the flash white, which it did, and suddenly Master Crown Magolor was in front of him, who wasted no time firing orbs of dark energy at Bandana, who barely managed to dodge out of the way, when orb spam didn’t work Magolor tried taking the advantage by going high up and summoning dark plasma spikes.</p><p> </p><p>Pro tip: Don’t try to go above the guy with a spear.</p><p> </p><p>Bandana punished the foolish mistake by stabbing upwards at Magolor, who couldn’t do much but sit there and take it. Enraged, Magolor shot clusters of blue fire at Bandana trying to hit him with just one of them, this isn’t Bandana’s first time fighting someone, and easily dodged all of them, and took a stab towards the crown, which caused Magolor to scream, knocking Bandana back. Magolor, angry that someone dared to try and touch his crown, summoned his shield and blocked Bandana from touching him or his crown, only a planet busting attack could break it, then he tried to suck Bandana in a black hole. Bandana managed to escape the black hole, but not the laser that Magolor was charging up, which knocked him back into the wall, Magolor, confident in his victory, laughed at his opponent.</p><p> </p><p>Rookie mistake.</p><p> </p><p>Bandana jumped on top of Magolor, knocking him to the ground, Bandana then delivered his first punch, which broke the first spike, then, Bandana delivered two punches at the same time, decimating two spikes on the star shield. Magolor, realizing what was happening, tried to retaliate, but it was no use, Bandana hit his final Megaton Punch, which broke Magolor’s shield, knocked off the crown, and decimated the floor (and parts of the planet) under him. Magolor was completely out cold, then he turned to white, and disappeared, leaving behind an emblem, picking it up, Bandana saw that it read ‘Best Friends Forever’, smiled(?), and walked back to the main room.</p><p> </p><p>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</p><p> </p><p>Morpho could not believe their eyes, neither could Galacta judging by their thoughts. Morpho turned around to see their ally and asked, “Has he always been able to do that?”</p><p> </p><p>The villain looked at the footage and said, “Oh, yeah, Megaton Punch, it can break planets, never seen him use it offensively before, that’s new.”</p><p> </p><p>“Is… is it irregular to be scared of a mere Waddle Dee?”</p><p> </p><p>“Nah, that tends to be par for the course with Bandana.”</p><p> </p><p>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</p><p> </p><p>Meta had a sinking feeling on what was going to be in this hall, I mean, only one event that wasn’t the Jambastion Cult only involved him, and let’s just say he didn’t have fond memories. Confirming his fears, the first image was of Kirby using the Robobot armor for the first time, Meta groaned, knowing he would have to relive bad memories. The second image appeared, and was of Kirby meeting Susie for the first time, y’know, for being made of solid steel, her business suit really does tear like paper. The third image was of Susie revealing her clone of King Dedede, Meta had no idea why she even made that, ‘<em> Aw, my previous plans utilizing an incredibly powerful metal suit failed, I know! I’ll just create a clone of someone who my enemy’s beat a million times before! </em>’, while yes, she didn’t know, it happens so often it seems intentional. The fourth image was of… the second Mecha Knight fight, Meta began staring at the image, Meta looked around, was the room suddenly colder? Why does it feel colder? It looks smaller. Why is his vision getting blurry? Why is his throat dry? Were those tears? Why does the ground feel like steel? Why is he breathing so fast? Why is this still affecting him? It’s been two years, why is it still affecting him? He’s faced worse why is this still affecting him? Why is-</p><p> </p><p>“Meta,” a voice called out over the intercom, catching Meta Knight’s attention, “are you okay?”</p><p> </p><p>“I’m fine,” Meta replied, a little too fast.</p><p> </p><p>“Meta, you aren’t wearing your mask, don’t lie to me,” the voice responded.</p><p> </p><p>“I’m fine,” Meta growled, only now noticing his mask was next to the wall, picking it up, he put it back on.</p><p> </p><p>It was cold.</p><p> </p><p>The voice didn’t respond, though the sound of a button being pressed and metal moving was heard, Meta could vaguely overhear the words ‘Meta...panic...help...deserves...once...though...spell,’ then a feminine ‘okay.’</p><p> </p><p>A door to Meta’s side opened, revealing none other than Susie, Meta took a step back, which caused Susie to look… upset?</p><p> </p><p>“So, I was told you were having issues,” Susie started, sitting down next to the wall.</p><p> </p><p>“I’m fine, and how are you even here anyway?” Meta choked out, walking over and sitting next to the CEO.</p><p> </p><p>“I was told I could come out here to talk with you under one condition,” Susie explained, “I currently have a spell put on me that forbids me from even mentioning mere details about who’s doing this, watch, ███████”</p><p> </p><p>“That is odd,” Meta commented, “but I don’t need comfort I’m-”</p><p> </p><p>“Fine, yeah, you clearly aren’t Meta, according to ███████ you looked like you were having a panic-”</p><p> </p><p>“I WAS NOT HAVING A PANIC ATTACK!” Meta yelled, causing Susie to flinch, “I’m… sorry, I didn’t mean to yell, but I can’t still be stuck on that, it’s been over a year.”</p><p> </p><p>“It’s been over a year since Mr- ...<em> Dad </em> died too, and I know it may seem like I don’t care about what happened back then,” Susie stated, “but in truth, I do, it keeps me up every damn night, but I’ve accepted that, and I’ve accepted that I was not a good person before, <em> I wish others could accept reality though… </em>”</p><p> </p><p>Meta paused and asked, “Okay, but what does this have to do with me?”</p><p> </p><p>Susie sighed, “Meta, you’ve been traumatized, and you refuse to accept that, I do want the best for you, and the only way that happens is if you accept the truth,” Susie added. “Because believe me, if there’s only one person in the Gamble Galaxy who could get through that, it’s you, but you can’t get through something you don’t believe is there.”</p><p> </p><p>“I can’t be traumatized,” Meta Knight muttered, “I’ve gone through far worse than that, I’ve fought Galacta Knight three damn times, how could one singular lesser event traumatize me?”</p><p> </p><p>Susie sighed, “I can’t give you the true answer, as I have no way of knowing that, but,” Susie started, “I do have a theory.”</p><p> </p><p>“Really? And what would that be?”</p><p> </p><p>“Tell me, every time you’ve fought Kirby, or Dedede, or Dark Meta Knight, were you fighting to kill?” Susie asked.</p><p> </p><p>“Well… no, Kirby is my pupil, Dedede is my husband, and Dark Meta is my clone, I can’t kill them.”</p><p> </p><p>“Well, there’s the difference between all of those events, you didn’t want to fight to kill, but you had to,” Susie explained, “I would love to keep talking but, he has me on a timer, and it’s  almost up, but, Meta, please, you focus on helping others so much, please, help yourself,” Susie pleaded, before vanishing. Meta continued to sit, trying to take his mind off of his situation, he looked at the next picture on the opposite wall, which was of Max Profitt Haltmann, who was yelling at Kirby and Susie, according to Susie, he had gone insane, Meta didn’t know how much he fully believed that. Standing up and drawing his sword, Meta walked towards the room at the end, which had a picture of Star Dream above it. The picture was odd though, there was a silhouette on the side, it looked awfully familiar…</p><p> </p><p>Jumping into the room, it flashed white, and in front of Meta was none other than Star Dream, staring down Meta.</p><p> </p><p>“<em> SO YOU’RE THE INCESSANT PEST, </em> ” Star Dream spoke, “ <em> THE MISCALCULATION THAT COST ME MY LIFE. </em>”</p><p> </p><p>“No,” Meta replied, “that would be Kirby.”</p><p> </p><p>“<em> MORE THAN ONE ASTRAL LEFT ALIVE? INTERESTING INFORMATION, I’LL USE IT TO BRING DEMISE UPON THIS CREATURE YOU CALL ‘KIRBY’ </em> ” Star Dream released and fired two homing missiles, Meta dodged the first then cut through the second. “ <em> INTERESTING </em> ,” the machine spoke, “ <em> THERE’S A THIRD ASTRAL </em>.”</p><p> </p><p>Meta, realizing what was about to happen, looked at the machine, scared.</p><p> </p><p>“<em> I’LL SAVE THAT FOR LATER, FOR NOW, LET ME TEST YOU, THE DATA MY NEW ADMIN HAS SUPPLIED ME WITH IS INTERESTING </em> ” Star Dream spoke, “ <em> SO MANY PAST WARRIORS TO CHOOSE FROM, THOUGH, IF YOU ARE AS IMPRESSIVE AS MY ADMIN SPOKE, I SHOULD NOT HOLD BACK, OUT OF ALL OF MY WARRIORS, ONLY ONE IS LIMITED BY ONLY IMAGINATION. </em>”</p><p> </p><p>Meta looked at the machine, trying to find a weak point, no matter what angle he saw, there didn’t seem to be a way to break the impenetrable defense…</p><p> </p><p>Well.. Meta couldn’t, but he’s not the only knight who can enter the room is he? Time to play Star Dream’s game.</p><p> </p><p>“<em> L...O...A...D...I...N...G </em> ,” Star Dream mechanically spoke, “ <em> EXECUTING ART_WITCH.EXE, </em>” with that, Star Dream summoned Drawcia, who turned to look at Meta Knight. Drawcia giggled, staring at the knight, this was her opponent? A mere knight? Pathetic. Drawcia shot out some basic magic projectiles, Meta dodged and attempted to slash at her but his sword went right through.</p><p> </p><p>“Cute try,” Drawcia  mechanically taunted. Right, she’s essentially just lines of code, got it. Drawcia dashed at Meta Knight, attempting to swat him out of the sky, when she missed,she turned around and launched another projectile, Meta slashed at the projectile, expecting it to disappear, when it didn’t he noticed it went back towards Drawcia, knocking her down and breaking some kind of spell. Seizing the opportunity, Meta dashed at Drawcia, slashing at her, Drawcia got back up and glared at the knight, she summoned her canvas and began painting a picture of bombs with parachutes, activating the picture(?), bombs began appearing all around Meta, he tried slashing one, that didn’t work out, knocking him against the wall. Drawcia laughed and began firing more projectiles, Meta got hit by the first but parried the second.</p><p> </p><p>Meta didn’t notice his mask was starting to crack.</p><p> </p><p>Drawcia fell to the ground, Meta started slashing at her, he even cut her hat in two, which pissed off the witch. Carelessly, Dracia began drawing a picture of King Dedede, which is exactly what Meta wanted, jumping up, he sliced her paintbrush in half. Staring at the bisected brush, Drawcia then looked at Meta, who raised an eyebrow, Drawcia floated to the ground and disappeared.</p><p> </p><p>Meta turned to face Star Dream, “Looks like your witch forfeited.”</p><p> </p><p>“<em> A MINOR SETBACK, </em> ” Star Dream confidently claimed, “ <em> DRAWCIA WAS POWERFUL, BUT NOT VERY SMART, IT’S MY FAULT FOR UNDERESTIMATING YOU, I WON’T DO THAT AGAIN, </em> ” Star Dream spoke, beginning to summon another villain, “ <em> WHILE MORPHO KNIGHT IS A POWERFUL GOD, BEING THE ONE OF JUDGEMENT, THEY ARE NOT THE GOD OF DEATH, THAT IS SIMPLY FALSE, </em> ” Star Dream began, “ <em> THE TRUE GOD OF DEATH IS A BEING SO POWERFUL, HE MANAGED TO ROB FLORALIA OF IT’S SOLAR ENERGY, AND IT TOOK 10 ASTRALS TO KILL HIM, YOU STAND NO CHANCE </em>.”</p><p> </p><p>*<em> God of Death? Wait, Morpho isn’t the God of Death? ...But they control the underworld, </em>* Meta thought.</p><p> </p><p>“<em> L...O...A...D...I...N...G, EXECUTING SKULL_CULTIST.EXE </em>.”</p><p> </p><p>Out from Star Dream came none other then-</p><p> </p><p>“Necrodeus,” Meta Knight growled.</p><p> </p><p>The god of death laughed and raised one of his fists, sending it at Meta Knight.</p><p> </p><p>*<em> Detachable limbs, that’s a good note </em>* Meta thought, dodging the attack, Meta then dashed at the hand and swiped at it, hitting the weak spot on the back of his hand. Necrodeus pulled his hand back in agony, then glared at Meta Knight, Necrodeus raised both of his hands and slammed the ground, knocking Meta up in the air. Necrodeus went for another punch and hit Meta against the wall, Meta landed face first on his mask, which began to crack more, Meta still didn’t notice. Necrodeus went for another punch but Meta warped to the side and sliced his hand, Necrodeus growled and began holding his hand up high, and then went for Meta, who side-stepped it, Necrodeus began trying to get his hand out of the ground, Meta took this opportunity and began attacking the back of his hand. Necrodeus’ right hand shattered from the pressure, he scowled at Meta and snapped with his left hand which summoned Skullions, leaving them to remake his hand. Meta dashed at the skullions and cut them in two, stopping them, Necrodeus seized this opportunity and grabbed Meta.</p><p> </p><p>“Annoying little gnat,” he mechanically growled, before slamming Meta on the ground, Necrodeus went in for a follow up punch, right as it was about to hit and beat Meta Knight, the room went dark.</p><p> </p><p>…</p><p> </p><p>“<b> <em>KNOW MY POWER!</em> </b>”</p><p> </p><p>Meta sliced Necrodeus’ left hand in two, leaving the god defenseless, seizing the opportunity, Meta dashed at Necrodeus and cut <em> him </em> in two.</p><p> </p><p>“<em> ...WELL I MUST ADMIT THAT IS A TAD IMPRESSIVE, </em>” Star Dream commented.</p><p> </p><p>“Thank you,” Meta responded, sheathing his sword for a second.</p><p> </p><p>“<em> OF COURSE, HOW COULD I HAVE NOT NOTICED? GALAXIA, ONLY A TRUE WARRIOR WIELDS THAT SWORD, </em> ” Star Dream started, “ <em> HOWEVER, A TRUE WARRIOR DOES NOT MEAN THE BEST ONE, AND I’VE EXHAUSTED MY ONLY TWO WORTHY OPTIONS, IT’S TIME TO DIE SIR META KNIGHT </em>.”</p><p> </p><p>*<em> Here we go, </em>* Meta thought.</p><p> </p><p>“<em> THEY MAY END UP DESTROYING US ALL, BUT SUCH IS A PRICE WE HAVE TO PAY, L...O...A...D...I...N...G, EXECUTING GREATEST_WARRIOR.EXE. </em>”</p><p> </p><p>Out from Star Dream came none other than Galacta Knight, seeing the machine behind them, Galacta growled, who dared to control THEM!? The Greatest Warrior in the Galaxy!? Galacta slashed Star Dream in two, causing the machine to turn white and drop an emblem, Galacta went to inspect it, but Meta Knight grabbed it before them. Meta looked at the emblem and saw it read ‘Extermination By Blaster♥’ and then put it in his pocket, Galacta got pissed at that, so they dashed at Meta Knight. Meta blocked Galacta’s assault with Galaxia, then teleported behind Galacta, Galacta anticipated this and put their shield behind them, catching Meta’s surprise attack. “Cute try,” Galacta growled, before dropping their lance, grabbing Meta’s foot, and slamming them against the wall, which cracked his mask even more. Galacta picked up the lance and dashed at Meta, but Meta blocked and parried, slicing Galacta’s mask, beginning to crack it.</p><p> </p><p>*<em> If I break their mask they’ll most likely forfeit </em>* they both thought.</p><p> </p><p>Galacta charged up a swing and attempted to hit Meta with a blade beam, but Meta dodged and tried to counter, but was blocked by Galacta. Galacta tried to get a followup swing, but missed and Meta punished with a slice to the back. Meta opened his wings and tried an aerial approach, but Galacta blocked with their shield and revealed their wings, taking to the sky, they took a more jousting-like approach, flying by and trying to go for a hit, Meta successfully hit Galacta, knocking them down and cracking their mask a little more. Meta tried to dive down with a stab but Galacta rolled out of the way, Meta used one of the notches on Galaxia to rip Galacta’s lance out of their hands, and threw it to the side.</p><p> </p><p>“Fighting an unarmed opponent? Coward,” Galacta growled.</p><p> </p><p>Then Meta threw his sword to the side.</p><p> </p><p>“You call yourself the Greatest Warrior in the Galaxy? Prove it, drop the shield, beat me in an unarmed battle,” Meta responded.</p><p> </p><p>Galacta smiled and dropped their shield.</p><p> </p><p>“Well come on, give me your best shot,” Galacta taunted.</p><p> </p><p>Meta fainted an attack with his wings, before teleporting behind Galacta, Galacta missed their attempted counter and got slashed by Meta’s wings. Galacta groaned and grabbed Meta’s wing, throwing him across the room, Meta found his footing and flew back towards Galacta, using momentum to build a powerful hit, Galacta prepared for the attack, both of them struck each other.</p><p> </p><p>And they broke each other’s mask.</p><p> </p><p>They both went flying back from the impact, their shattered masks lying on the ground in front of them. Meta felt his face and realized there wasn’t a mask, so he covered himself in his cloak, Galacta panicked and used their shield to cover their face.</p><p> </p><p>“Forfeit the fight and we’ll call it a draw,” Meta groaned.</p><p> </p><p>“NEVER!”</p><p> </p><p>“Galacta, it’s for the best, somebody has gotten Morpho Knight and they’re using you as a puppet.”</p><p> </p><p>“So I’m being possessed by the Morpho Knight?”</p><p> </p><p>“Yes, yes you are, just, forfeit now, we’ll call it a draw, and we’ll separate the two of you.”</p><p> </p><p>Galacta growled for a second before sighing, “Fine,” Galacta threw their shield to the side, revealing their face to Meta, looking to the side Galacta growled, “I forfeit.”</p><p> </p><p>Meta released his cloak, showing his face, “Hm.”</p><p> </p><p>“What?”</p><p> </p><p>“You look like Kirby.”</p><p> </p><p>“SHUT THE FUCK UP-” Galacta yelled, before turning white and vanishing, leaving behind an emblem, picking it up, it read ’The Greatest Warrior in the Galaxy’. Meta felt his face, he had no idea what he was going to do about his mask, then he felt something hit him, turning around, he saw an intact version of his mask, the intercom then turned on.</p><p> </p><p>“You’re welcome.”</p><p> </p><p>Meta inspected the mask, “Why do you have an exact replica of-”</p><p> </p><p>“Don’t ask questions you don’t want the answers to,” the intercom then turned off, exhausted, Meta put his mask back on, and walked to the main hall.</p><p> </p><p>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</p><p> </p><p>Galacta felt tortured.</p><p> </p><p>They couldn’t control their movements, they couldn’t blink, or talk, or breath, they could only think, life became a void whenever Morpho possessed them.</p><p> </p><p>It was horrible.</p><p> </p><p>*<em> Silence fool </em> * Morpho thought, * <em> I hear all your thoughts, I don’t care if it’s torture you’re stuck here </em>*</p><p> </p><p>*<em> I’ll get out and I’ll cut you into damn pieces </em>* Galacta mentally growled.</p><p> </p><p>*<em> You said that last time, and yet, you had to rely on others, as you always do </em> * Morpho responded, * <em> You’ve done this since day one Galacta, the rest of us did the dirty work while you sat around doing jack fucking shit, then you take all the credit </em>*</p><p> </p><p>*<em> I didn’t get the title ‘Greatest Warrior in the Galaxy’ for nothing Judicious </em>*</p><p> </p><p>*<em> Yes you fucking did! I did all the hard work, then you claimed you helped, you lose to mere swordsmen all the time! How many times has Meta beaten you again!? AND DON’T CALL ME JUDICIOUS! Either call me Morpho Knight or Your New Lord And Master For All Of Eternity </em>*</p><p> </p><p>*<em> Kiss my ass </em>*</p><p> </p><p>*<em> Sorry, but I’m not Necrodeus, I don’t just agree with everything you say Galacta, you never even told us your real name </em>*</p><p> </p><p>*<em> My real name is Galacta Knight </em>*</p><p> </p><p>*<em> Bullshit, you weren’t born with that lance dumbass </em>*</p><p> </p><p>*<em> You can accept Drawcia’s real name is Drawcia, why can’t you accept mine? </em>*</p><p> </p><p>*<em> BECAUSE NO ONE’S SURNAME IS FUCKING ‘KNIGHT’ I COULD EXTEND MY BELIEF WITH ‘GALACTA’ BUT YOUR LAST NAME ISN’T FUCKING KNIGHT! </em>*</p><p> </p><p>*<em> We really doing this again? </em>*</p><p> </p><p>*<em> YES WE’RE DOING THIS AGAIN! YOU’RE REAL NAME ISN’T  F U C K I N G  GALACTA KNIGHT! </em>*</p><p> </p><p>Dear Nova this was going to take a while.</p><p> </p><p>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</p><p> </p><p>Dedede had an inkling of what to expect in here, I mean, Meta took care of the Robobot invasion and Bandana helped Kirby the most with Magolor, him on the other hand? He dealt with Floralia, and lo and behold the first image was of Dedede getting kidnapped by Taranza. Dedede looked at the image, then glared at the camera watching him, this bastard kidnapped an emotionally unstable grieving 21 year old, and has the gall to say that they’re not heartless. Despicable. Walking down the hall the second image appeared, one of Kirby fighting Paintra, Drawcia’s sister, Dedede actually had a chat with Paintra, apparently Vividria is Drawcia’s daughter, which confused Dedede, like, did she paint Vivid? Did she have sex? If Drawcia was still around he wished he could ask, sadly, he can’t. The third picture to appear was of Pyribbit, single-handedly the most annoying creature Kirby’s ever had to fight apparently, Dedede can’t imagine fighting it was fun, it lived in a place called ‘Endless Explosions’, like, that couldn’t have been fun. Fourthly was an image of Taranza puppeteering Dedede around in his masked form, now, as much as Dedede cared about Taranza, he was one of his closest friends after all, Dedede was still bitter about that, because… it wasn’t like the Dark Matter possessions, during those Dedede was essentially unconscious, he only felt the emotions, nothing else, when Taranza puppeteers people though? You feel that, you can think freely, you feel every punch, every kick, and every blast you’re hit with, but you can’t control your body, that’s gotta be what true hell is. The fifth image was of Taranza getting blasted off Royal Road, Dedede frowned at the memory, he always thought of that as a wake-up call for Taranza, the moment he knew that his friend was gone. He could still remember finding Taranza vividly…</p><p> </p><p>=======================================================================================</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> Dedede walked into the garden, one of the fairies opened the gate for him, looking around, it looked beautiful, there were so many kinds of flowers, Dedede couldn’t even name them all. Walking by a section dedicated to making flowers in the form and colors of a rainbow, Dedede heard a noise, it was quiet, but it was there. Looking towards the back, Dedede saw none other than Taranza, sitting in a blocked off room, crying softly. Dedede looked towards one of the fairies, they understood and opened the entrance, walking in, Dedede decided that he probably needed someone to talk to. </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> “Hey, Taranza?” Dedede said, causing Taranza to turn around. </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> “Why aRe you here? Are you gonna execute me now?” Taranza asked, sobbing. </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> Dedede sighed, “No Taranza, no I’m not,” Dedede sat down next to Taranza, “Taranza, I need you to answer one question, and I need you to be honest.” </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> Taranza looked at Dedede, “What?” </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> “Was she always this way?” </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> Taranza paused, before looking at the ground, “No,” he choked out. </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> “Well, what was she like?” </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> Taranza, through his tears, smiled, “She was so nice, she cared about those around her, she gave me a place to stay when I lost my apartment, she’s been my best friend since we were little spiderlings,” Taranza’s face fell, “but I ruined it.” </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> “What do you mean?” </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> “I did this to her, I’m the one who made her evil, I’m the one who killed Sectonia-” </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> “Woah woah woah, calm down, explain what happened, Taranza.” </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> Taranza sighed, “One day, for her birthday, I scavenged the local marketplace and found a nice mirror, adorned with angel wings and a crown.” </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> *Wait, isn’t that the-* </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> “I gave it to her, and she loved it, she was happy, and I was happy she was happy, but, that mirror did something to her, she slowly became… mean and arrogant and only obsessed with her looks, but I never said anything, because I thought that mirror made her happy, but now… it’s too late, Sectonia is dead, replaced with some shell that pretends she’s the same person, and it’s all my fault, so, is this the part where you execute me?” </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> Dedede paused, and put his hand on Taranza’s back, “Taranza… tell me, did you know that the mirror was evil?” </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> “Well, no-” </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> “Then how is it your fault?” </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> “Because I didn’t stop her,” Taranza choked. </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> “Because you thought she was happy, it’s not your fault.” </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> Taranza looked to the side, “Just execute me, it’s for the better, I’m worthless and have no friends.” </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> Dedede pulled Taranza in closer, and patted his shoulder, “Taranza… </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> I’ll be your friend.” </em>
</p><p> </p><p>=======================================================================================</p><p> </p><p>Dedede smiled at the memory, Taranza and him became friends, and as the founder of the Taranza Protection Squad™, that was one of his most treasured memories. Up there with Kirby becoming his friend and his first date with Meta Knight, Taranza deserved better. Walking up to the final fight, Dedede looked up to see an image of Queen Sectonia, he hoped Taranza wasn’t watching this. Jumping down into the room, Dedede pulled out his hammer, after an odd delay, the room flashed white, and there stood Queen Sectonia.</p><p> </p><p>“A disgusting pest here to usurp the throne?” She asked King Dedede.</p><p> </p><p>“No, consider this tyrannicide,” Dedede responded. With that, Dedede dededashed at the tyrant, Sectonia knocked him back with a lightning field, Dedede used his hammer to anchor himself to the ground, then, he ran in for another assault, Sectonia tried slashing at the king, but missed, causing her to take a hammer to the face.</p><p> </p><p>“Ugh! The nerve! How dare you attack the queen of Floralia!”</p><p> </p><p>“You’re not the queen of Floralia anymore!” Dedede responded, throwing his hammer at Sectonia’s head, hitting her, the hammer bounced back into his hands and he tried a jumping assault, but was stopped by Sectonia shooting him out of the air was a silver rod shot.</p><p> </p><p>“Impossible! I’m only 21, there is no possible way I could’ve died!”</p><p> </p><p>“You were killed by Kirby dipshit,” Dedede insulted, picking himself back up, “with help from me and Taranza.”</p><p> </p><p>“IMPOSSIBLE!” Sectonia shouted, summoning a ring of electricity around her, knocking Dedede back, “Taranza would never betray me! He’s my best friend!”</p><p> </p><p>“Wait,” Dedede started, picking himself back up, “Sectonia-”</p><p> </p><p>“QUEEN Sectonia!”</p><p> </p><p>“Yeah, sure, fine Queen Sectonia, what happened last week?”</p><p> </p><p>“...Well,” Sectonia started, confused, “Taranza gave me a mirror for my birthday, and I decided I wasn’t pretty enough, on Friday I learned about a spell to make me beautiful, on Sunday I cast it.”</p><p> </p><p>Dedede froze, “Oh Sectonia, we… don’t have to fight.”</p><p> </p><p>“Well you called me a tyrant!”</p><p> </p><p>“Because you become one, Sectonia, I know for a fact there is still good in you right now, because Taranza is still your friend,” Dedede stated.</p><p> </p><p>“What do you mean? He’s always been my friend,” she responded.</p><p> </p><p>“Sectonia, listen, that mirror Taranza gave you? It’s evil, destroy it, get rid of it, just… get it away from you.”</p><p> </p><p>“Why? It’s helped me make myself more beautiful than ever,” Sectonia asked.</p><p> </p><p>“Listen, us two? We’re from different timelines, at different points in our lives, listen, Taranza didn’t know, but that mirror is corrupting you, it’s making you evil, you need to get rid of it.”</p><p> </p><p>“Hmph, I don’t think that’s necessary,” Sectonia replied, putting her scepter behind her back, “Taranza will notice and tell me.”</p><p> </p><p>“No he won’t, because he thinks that mirror makes you happy, and he doesn’t want to hurt you,” Dedede said, walking up to the Queen, putting his hammer on the ground. “Listen, the idea of Taranza not being my friend hurts, but, it’s for the good of you, him, and your kingdom that you ditch that mirror, and maybe turn back into a spider, who knows.”</p><p> </p><p>Sectonia grumbled, “I don’t want to get rid of it…”</p><p> </p><p>“That’s the trick, it’s manipulating you to want to keep it, please, I’ll put it this way, in my timeline? Taranza has serious emotional and mental trauma because of you using that mirror, he’s incredibly volatile, you blasted off a cliff and called him useless!”</p><p> </p><p>“Oh dear,” Sectonia responded.</p><p> </p><p>“Listen, I don’t know what happens after these fights, but, if you forfeit here, and go home, and ditch the mirror, you’ll be happier, and Taranza will be too, you wanna know why?”</p><p> </p><p>“...why?”</p><p> </p><p>“Because in our timeline things got so bad Taranza had to kill you.”</p><p> </p><p>Sectonia put her hand over her mouth, nodded, and dropped her scepter, forfeiting the fight, leaving behind the final emblem, which read ‘To Meet That Flower’. Dedede looked at the emblem, smiled, and said “At least I made one timeline happier,” then walked back into the main room.</p><p> </p><p>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</p><p> </p><p>The villain analyzed the footage, lost in thought, when suddenly, Morpho popped up behind him, “You okay?”</p><p> </p><p>“Huh? Oh, yeah, I’m fine, they got all the emblems, get your sword, it’s showtime.”</p><p> </p><p>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</p><p> </p><p>Dedede put the final emblem in the door, the door began to shake, and flipped all the emblems over, revealing the faces of the Star Allies (and also Dark Matter and Galacta Knight), the door then split in two, and opened.</p><p> </p><p>“Well, here we go,” Daroach started, “everyone good?” he turned and most people nodded, he took it as a yes overall, “alright, Kirby, you’re going first.”</p><p> </p><p>“Poyooooo.”</p><p> </p><p>“Yeah no you’re going first Kirbs,” Dedede added.</p><p> </p><p>Kirby grumbled and walked through the door, in front of them was a big room, at the opposite end was a wooden doorway, to the left of the entrance was a locker, opening it, it revealed the Bright and Time copy abilities.</p><p> </p><p>“Oh the copy abilities,” Dedede commented, “which one are you picking Kirbs?”</p><p> </p><p>“FI-RE CROWN! FI-RE CROWN!” Fluff and Flamberge began chanting, Kirby rolled his eyes and swallowed the crown, “YES!” Fluff and Flamberge cheered.</p><p> </p><p>“Be silent fools,” a voice said, from above, looking up, the group saw none other than Morpho Knight, “Galacta is annoying enough, I don’t need your shenanigans as well.”</p><p> </p><p>“Morpho, why are you helping this? I thought you were neutral!” Meta Knight yelled.</p><p> </p><p>“I am neutral, but at the risk of sounding cliche, they gave me an offer I couldn’t refuse,” Morpho said, drawing their sword, “I’m already getting one life out of this, I’d be happy to take eighteen more.”</p><p> </p><p>Zan drew her spear, “Enough talk Morpho, we defy death, what chance do you stand?”</p><p> </p><p>“All at once? A low chance, but,” Morpho waved their hand and an indestructible glass sheet separated the group, with only Kirby, Fluff, Dark Matter, and Meta Knight being in front, “how about against you four?”</p><p> </p><p>Dark Matter drew their sword, “I̵'̷m̷ ̸a̸n̶ ̸a̶n̸c̶i̷e̸n̶t̸ ̸r̶e̵l̴i̵c̵,̶ ̴K̸i̷r̴b̷y̷ ̷a̸n̵d̸ ̷M̴e̴t̴a̴ ̴a̷r̶e̴ ̴g̶o̶d̸ ̸k̴i̷l̸l̴e̵r̵s̶,̶ ̵y̵o̵u̸'̷r̶e̴ ̷f̴u̴c̸k̴i̸n̶g̵ ̴d̷e̷a̵d̷ ̸m̸e̴a̴t̸ ̸M̴o̷r̸p̵h̷o̵.̶”</p><p> </p><p>Morpho glared at the villain, “You should’ve stayed sealed away.” Morpho then dashed at Dark Matter, who blocked with their sword, Meta tried to get Morpho from behind but Morpho summoned a second sword and blocked him too, “cute try.”</p><p> </p><p>“How’s this for cute?” Fluff asked, grabbing Morpho by the leg and whipping them around the area.</p><p> </p><p>“KICK HIS ASS FLUFF!” Flamberge cheered.</p><p> </p><p>“...Well that was an odd sentence to hear,” Marx commented.</p><p> </p><p>“Oh shut up Marx you can’t talk about being odd,” Dark Meta responded.</p><p> </p><p>Morpho cut Fluff’s line with their sword and dashed at the prince, who got saved by Kirby, who blasted a column of fire at Morpho.</p><p> </p><p>“So is it just a reskin of fire?” Dedede asked, Kirby then shot a ray of light at Morpho and burned their skin, “nevermind.”</p><p> </p><p>Dark Matter and Meta went for Morpho’s back, but they teleported away, and began charging up their giant sword.</p><p> </p><p>“O̵h̸ ̸d̸e̷a̵r̶.̶”</p><p> </p><p>“We’re dead,” Fluff added, seeing the sword come down on the group, closing his eyes in fear, to his shock, nothing happened, looking over, he saw Kirby blasting a ray of fire and light at the sword, keeping it above them, then forcing it back, staggering the knight. Dark Matter seized the opportunity and took a powerful slash at Morpho, who was knocked against the wall, Morpho teleported to Meta and attempted to use the memory wiping scream, but Fluff wrapped yarn around his mouth. “Ever heard of pulling the wool over your eyes?” Fluff asked, slamming Morpho into the ground, “Well I call this maneuver pulling the wool over your neck!” Kirby grinned and began charging up his ability.</p><p> </p><p>“Everybody! Shield your eyes!” Meta yelled, as everyone complied, Kirby let the Solar Pulse rip, Fluff threw Morpho into it, and they got the blunt of both the fire and the light, Kirby then ended the attack, and kicked Morpho to the wall, causing Morpho to get separated from Galacta, leaving an unconscious warrior and a butterfly flying away in their wake, then the glass disappeared. The team gave a cheer for the victory, Meta smiled, then turned around going to open the door, but got stopped and knocked back, looking over, Meta realized that they shouldn’t have celebrated that early.</p><p> </p><p>Galacta was awake, and they were PISSED.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>If you're wondering, no, I was not implying Kirby is Galacta Knight, and also Galacta, Morpho, Drawcia, and Necrodeus were the OG Star Allies! (They built the Dream Palaces)</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Not You...</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The Star Allies finally unmask who they're enemy is and... oh... you...</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Mild warning for some gruesome imagery near the end, if you don't like any kind of bloodshed at all, skip Meta's, Dark Meta's, and Galacta's section.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Galacta stared at the people in front of them.</p><p> </p><p>They had finally gotten free of Morpho’s control, and when they wake up, they see Meta Knight and Dark Matter. They weren’t happy, and weren’t passing this opportunity up, they dashed and Meta Knight, knocking him away. Galacta pointed their lance at Meta, “You,” they said, then they pointed their lance at Dark Matter, “and you, right now, the rest of you can fuck off or I’ll destroy you’re home planet when I get back here.”</p><p> </p><p>Everyone else backed away, Meta Knight drew Galaxia and Dark Matter drew the Rainbow Blade, “Galacta, we don’t need to do this,” Meta claimed, “we have a common enemy-”</p><p> </p><p>“Yeah, I’ll kill you two, and then I’ll kill him!” Galacta snapped, dashing at Meta Knight, Meta anticipated the attack and parried, knocking Galacta away, “What’s your problem with Dark Matter anyway?”</p><p> </p><p>“They’re the most evil force in the galaxy!”</p><p> </p><p>“1̷0̵0̶ ̵m̴i̶l̸l̸i̵o̴n̶ ̶y̶e̷a̵r̵ ̵o̴l̷d̶ ̴p̴e̴t̵t̸i̶n̸e̴s̵s̸”</p><p> </p><p>“IT’S NOT PETTY!” Galacta yelled, attempting to cut off Dark Matter’s head, and they succeeded, then Dark Matter reattached their head.</p><p> </p><p>“N̶i̴c̴e̸ ̵o̶n̷e̵,̴” Dark Matter commented, before grabbing Galacta and throwing them against the wall, “a̶n̸d̵ ̵f̵o̸r̵ ̶t̴h̵e̸ ̸r̷e̸c̵o̵r̴d̷ ̶i̷t̶ ̸i̶s̷ ̸i̴n̶c̷r̶e̷d̶i̴b̴l̴y̴ ̶p̸e̵t̷t̶y̴.̴”</p><p> </p><p>“What’d you do?” Ribbon asked from the sidelines.</p><p> </p><p>“Y̵'̷k̷n̷o̶w̷ ̷t̴h̸o̸s̸e̶ ̵D̴r̶e̸a̴m̵ ̸P̶a̶l̷a̷c̴e̴s̴?̴ ̷W̸e̴l̷l̵ ̶G̵a̷l̶a̴c̵t̵a̸ ̴h̴e̵l̵p̵e̵d̸ ̷m̶a̶k̴e̸ ̷t̷h̴e̸m̷,̸ ̸t̵h̴e̴r̵e̶ ̷u̷s̶e̶d̶ ̸t̶o̵ ̷b̸e̵ ̷o̷n̸e̸ ̸o̵n̷ ̵C̴a̴v̷e̷r̸n̷a̵,̷ ̷t̴h̶e̴n̴ ̵I̸ ̸h̶a̸p̷p̷e̷n̵e̵d̸ ̶a̵n̴d̶ ̷t̶h̷e̷r̶e̵ ̵w̴a̵s̸ ̴n̴o̸ ̶l̸o̶n̷g̸e̸r̴ ̶a̶ ̵D̸r̷e̵a̵m̶ ̵P̵a̵l̸a̴c̸e̷ ̴o̵n̴ ̷C̶a̶v̸e̸r̴n̵a̸.̵”</p><p> </p><p>“THOSE TOOK YEARS TO BUILD YOU PIECE OF SHIT!” Galacta yelled, trying to stab Dark Matter in the eye, who simply teleported behind Galacta and slashed at them.</p><p> </p><p>“Y̴e̵a̸h̴,̷ ̸y̵e̵a̶h̷,̵ ̵I̸ ̸k̸n̶o̷w̵,̷ ̶y̴e̵a̶r̵s̶ ̴o̴f̴ ̵w̴o̷r̸k̸ ̸g̸o̵n̴e̸ ̷i̷n̷ ̴m̶e̴r̷e̷ ̷s̵e̵c̶o̷n̸d̴s̶,̴ ̷p̵r̵e̶t̷t̴y̸ ̴p̵o̶o̸r̸l̷y̸ ̸b̸u̵i̸l̵t̷ ̴i̵f̶ ̸y̷o̷u̴ ̸a̷s̵k̴ ̵m̷e̸.̴”</p><p> </p><p>“SILENCE MOTHERFUCKER!” Galacta yelled, glaring at Dark Matter while engaged in a clash with Meta Knight, who punished the Aeon Hero by just fucking punching them.</p><p> </p><p>“I̵ ̵m̴e̵a̴n̷,̴ ̶t̴w̴o̵ ̶o̴f̸ ̴y̸o̷u̵ ̴w̷e̸r̶e̶ ̷g̷o̶d̶s̶,̴ ̸o̷n̴e̸ ̷o̷f̶ ̷y̶o̸u̸ ̷c̵o̷u̶l̸d̷ ̶m̵a̶k̷e̴ ̵a̶n̴y̶t̵h̴i̶n̶g̸ ̸t̵h̷e̶y̸ ̵w̶a̴n̴t̵e̶d̴ ̷a̷s̵ ̶l̸o̷n̸g̷ ̵a̵s̷ ̴t̴h̸e̷y̶ ̶h̶a̶d̶ ̶a̸t̶ ̶l̶e̷a̴s̴t̸ ̷o̵n̸ ̴p̶i̶e̵c̶e̷ ̶o̸f̴ ̴p̷a̷p̸e̶r̴,̸ ̴a̶n̴d̴ ̶t̶h̶e̴n̸ ̷y̷o̸u̴ ̵w̵e̶r̵e̴ ̴a̷l̵s̶o̸ ̸t̷h̴e̸r̸e̷.̴”</p><p> </p><p>“I WAS THE MOST IMPORTANT MEMBER OF THE TEAM!”</p><p> </p><p>“I̷s̴ ̷t̸h̸a̶t̶ ̴w̷h̶y̸ ̶y̴o̵u̶ ̷w̴e̵n̸t̷ ̴d̸o̵w̵n̶ ̶l̶i̵k̵e̵ ̶a̶ ̴b̶i̷t̵c̵h̸?̶” Dark Matter asked, slicing at Galacta, who blocked and parried, but missed the follow up strike.</p><p> </p><p>“Be. Quiet.” Galacta growled.</p><p> </p><p>“W̴h̴e̸n̴ ̶I̴'̸m̴ ̸d̸e̶a̸d̶ ̸b̷i̵t̶c̸h̸,̴” Dark Matter taunted, engaging in a clash with Galacta, “M̴e̴t̷a̴ ̶t̷a̸k̴e̴ ̴a̷ ̵b̶r̸e̶a̸t̵h̵e̸r̵,̶ ̸w̸e̶ ̴n̸e̸e̶d̴ ̷t̶o̷ ̸s̴e̸t̵t̵l̷e̴ ̷a̶n̶ ̸a̸r̷g̸u̴m̴e̵n̵t̶.̷.̴.̷” Meta breathed a sigh of relief and flew over to the other Star Allies, Galacta teleported behind Dark Matter and tried to slash at them but was blocked by Dark Matter’s sword reappearing behind them. Dark Matter then started to fly, and their cloak and mask fell off, revealing the eye in the center.</p><p> </p><p>“H̷i̶t̵ ̸m̷e̸ ̴w̴i̴t̶h̵ ̸y̵o̶u̷'̶r̶e̴ ̵b̶e̴s̷t̵ ̸s̵h̷o̵t̴,̷ ̷p̸a̶<span class="u">r̵</span>k̶<span class="u">h̸</span>” Dark Matter insulted</p><p> </p><p>“HOW DARE YOU!” Galacta yelled, trying to knock the villain(?) out of the sky.</p><p> </p><p>“What the hell is a pa<span class="u">r</span>k<span class="u">h</span>?” Daroach asked.</p><p> </p><p>“I̷t̸'̸s̷ ̶a̴n̴ ̵i̵n̷s̶u̵l̸t̵ ̴f̵r̶o̶m̷ ̷a̸ ̷d̷e̶a̵d̷ ̵l̴a̷n̶g̷u̴a̵g̵e̷,̵ ̸I̸'̷l̴l̸ ̵m̵a̵k̸e̷ ̵a̷ ̵d̷i̶c̵t̷i̸o̶n̴a̶r̸y̴ ̷f̶o̷r̴ ̷i̸t̶.̷.̷.̶ ̶m̶a̴y̴b̷e̸,̸” Dark Matter replied, not really caring about the angry knight in front of them.</p><p> </p><p>“PAY ATTENTION!” Galacta yelled, missing an assault and getting blasted by a laser because of it.</p><p> </p><p>“A̴w̶w̵w̴ ̵i̸s̶ ̷t̶h̷e̵ ̴b̷a̷b̷y̷ ̸n̴o̸t̶ ̷g̶e̵t̵t̴i̶n̵g̴ ̵e̴n̶o̴u̷g̵h̵ ̴w̶u̵v̶?̶” Dark Matter taunted.</p><p> </p><p>Galacta just straight up stopped moving and screamed.</p><p> </p><p>Dark Matter looked around, then at the other allies, they weren’t really sure, turning back into the blade form, Dark Matter poked Galacta with the <strike>Gay Blade</strike> Rainbow Blade. Dedede walked over to the knight, reeled back, and whacked them, knocking out Galacta cold.</p><p> </p><p>“T̵h̷i̷n̶k̶ ̷I̷ ̸h̴i̸t̴ ̸t̴h̶e̷i̷r̸ ̸b̸r̴e̷a̴k̵i̸n̵g̴ ̵p̷o̸i̸n̸t̴,̶” Dark Matter joked, then, the group heard the sound of metal clashing, and turned to see Adeleine inside a cage.</p><p> </p><p>“UHHH GUYS!?” Adeleine yelled.</p><p> </p><p>“Addie? You okay?” Dedede asked.</p><p> </p><p>“Y-yeah I’m fine, could you get me out?”</p><p> </p><p>“Yeah, uhh, Meta, could you-” Dedede was cut off by a trap springing on Meta Knight, trapping him in a cage. “Oh shit,” Dedede said, before getting trapped himself, one by one, despite trying to dodge them (Daroach managed to dodge one, but in his laughter he got him by another), they all fell victim to the traps.</p><p> </p><p>“Oh joy, they block magic too,” Flamberge commented, unable to summon her sword. Then, they all heard a noise, and from a door appearing to the side, Taranza stepped out, almost falling on the way in, then he saw his friends.</p><p> </p><p>“H-hey guys,” he spoke.</p><p> </p><p>“Oh Taranza! Thank Nova, could you, like, cast a spell or something to get us out?” Daroach asked, sitting up to get a better view of his best friend.</p><p> </p><p>Taranza floated there and stared at Daroach.</p><p> </p><p>“Well? Chop chop get us out.”</p><p> </p><p>Taranza continued to stare, then, he held up three fingers, then he went to two, then one, then-</p><p> </p><p>“<b>TRAITOR!</b>” Dark Meta Knight yelled.</p><p> </p><p>Taranza silently pointed to Dark Meta and nodded, then, he floated up to Kirby’s cage and used his string to rip the crown off Kirby’s head, de-powering him.</p><p> </p><p>“N-no,” Zan mumbled.</p><p> </p><p>“Y’know,” Taranza started, looking at the crown, “this was Susie’s favorite, we all bet each other ten bucks on which hat would be picked for the first fight, my bet was on Time, I don’t see why you didn’t, it would’ve been thematic!”</p><p> </p><p>“Why are you trying to make light of this situation?” Dedede asked, distraught.</p><p> </p><p>Taranza sighed, “Listen, I don’t want you all to be here as much as you all didn’t want to see me here, might as well have one last friendly conversation.”</p><p> </p><p>“I-I don’t understand,” Zan cried, staring at her boyfriend, “y-you were on the cameras, y-you were kidnapped!”</p><p> </p><p>Taranza floated over to Zan’s cage, and grabbed one of the bars, “Zan… I,” Taranza paused, looked to the side, then continued, “I honestly don’t know how you fell for that, that footage was clearly edited, I wasn’t moving.”</p><p> </p><p>“W-wait so are Susie and Magolor-” Marx started.</p><p> </p><p>“NO!” Taranza shouted, before coughing and lowering his voice, “no, they’re still alive, in the storage room.”</p><p> </p><p>“You’re keeping them in a <b>FUCKING STORAGE ROOM!?</b>” Francisca yelled.</p><p> </p><p>“Well it was either that or the basement, and the basement doesn’t have proper air conditioning, soooooo, yeah.”</p><p> </p><p>An orange butterfly floated from above and landed on Taranza’s horn, Taranza swatted the insect away and said, “Yeah, yeah, deal’s still on, I’m working on it.” Taranza then cast a disarming spell on the whole room, knocking everyone’s weapon out of their hands, “don’t worry you’ll get ‘em back,” he commented.</p><p> </p><p>Picking up the weapons, Taranza looked at them and said, “Y’know I’m actually a little impressed, all of you perfectly coordinated to call me a heartless bastard it’s downright remarkable.”</p><p> </p><p>“But, why? Taranza?” Daroach asked, “Why throw away all of your friendships?”</p><p> </p><p>Taranza paused, looked towards Daroach, and said, “It starts with a ‘S’, end with an ‘a’, you do the math,” he threw the weapons into a cart, then sent it down a passage, turning back to face them, Taranza said, “You’ll be out in about an hour, don’t do anything, because trust me, the result will end the same either way,” Taranza put Galacta’s unconscious body inside a spare jail cell, then closed it, snapping his fingers, the cells all teleported to an underground storage room.</p><p> </p><p>Magolor and Susie turned to see the new arrivals, “HA, I WIN!” Magolor taunted.</p><p> </p><p>Susie groaned, “NOVAFUCKINGSHITDAMNIT!” she cursed into the wall.</p><p> </p><p>“COUGH UP THE MONEY!” Magolor yelled.</p><p> </p><p>Both of them went silent when they heard Zan cry, or at least try to, everytime a tear fell she got an electric shock.</p><p> </p><p>“H-hey, Zan, it’s… it’s gonna be okay,” Susie comforted.</p><p> </p><p>Francisca reached her hand over to Susie’s cell, the CEO noticed this, and grabbed her hand, causing Francisca to smile.</p><p> </p><p>Dark Matter looked around the area, looked at everyone else, then said,”H̷e̴y̴ ̴g̵u̵y̴s̴ ̸w̴a̸n̶n̶a̶ ̸s̸e̵e̵ ̴a̴ ̷m̷a̷g̴i̴c̵ ̷t̵r̶i̸c̶k̸?̸”</p><p> </p><p>“What?”</p><p> </p><p>Dark Matter then formed the Rainbow Blade, and cut the bars to all the cells, freeing everyone.</p><p> </p><p>“B-But magic was blocked right?” Flamberge questioned.</p><p> </p><p>“O̸h̴ ̷y̴e̸a̴h̵,̴ ̵b̸u̷t̴ ̵m̵y̵ ̵b̶l̷a̴d̷e̵ ̶i̴s̴n̴'̴t̶ ̴m̶a̷g̸i̸c̷,̵ ̵i̶t̸'̷s̷ ̷a̷ ̷p̸a̴r̵t̶ ̶o̸f̶ ̷m̸e̴,̷ ̵I̶ ̴c̶a̴n̸ ̵f̵o̷r̶m̶ ̵a̵ ̶n̸e̶w̸ ̵o̸n̵e̸ ̶a̴t̷ ̸a̷n̶y̸ ̶t̴i̷m̴e̴ ̸I̶ ̷w̸a̵n̷t̵.̵”</p><p> </p><p>“Wow, that’s incredibly lucky,” Fluff commented.</p><p> </p><p>Flamberge pushed the bars away and went into Zan’s cell, and hugged her, “Hey, it’s gonna be okay, I promise.”</p><p> </p><p>“B-b-but why would he do this?” Zan sobbed.</p><p> </p><p>“Sectonia,” Daroach responded.</p><p> </p><p>“W-what?”</p><p> </p><p>“‘It starts with a ‘s’ and ends with an ‘a’, Sectonia, he’s trying to revive Sectonia,” Daroach grimly stated.</p><p> </p><p>“W-was I not good enough? Did I do something wrong? Does he just not love me anymore?”</p><p> </p><p>“No he still loves you,” Magolor replied, “he keeps a picture of you on his desk, and he also apparently skipped the Hyness fight.”</p><p> </p><p>“Y-yeah, he did.”</p><p> </p><p>“He said he didn’t want to force the person he loves and two of his friends face their past abuser, so he skipped Hyness.”</p><p> </p><p>“He didn’t skip Sectonia though, she was there when I walked in the room,” Dedede added.</p><p> </p><p>“Well, then it seems that Taranza still has his heart in his chest,” Meta Knight commented, “I’m sure there’s something we could give for him to forfeit.”</p><p> </p><p>“I don’t know about that, I offered him money, power, hell, ownership of Haltmann Works, nothing worked,” Magolor replied.</p><p> </p><p>“Wait you offered him my company?”</p><p> </p><p>“Uhhhh-”</p><p> </p><p>“Anyway, we’ve known Taranza for years, what could he want?” Marx asked.</p><p> </p><p>Zan looked at the ground and said one word, “Closure.”</p><p> </p><p>“What?”</p><p> </p><p>“He wants closure with Sectonia, I know this for a fact, he’s said he would give his own life just to say sorry to her several times,” Zan stated, “at first I thought that was hyperbole, but now I have no reason to not believe him.”</p><p> </p><p>“Then we gotta act fast,” Magolor said, “look for an exit, there’s gotta be something…”</p><p> </p><p>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</p><p> </p><p>Taranza fixed up his suit, after all, it would be the one he dies in, combing his hair in the bathroom mirror, Taranza put the comb back in the cupboard. Right as he was about to leave, he heard two words.</p><p> </p><p>“What gall.”</p><p> </p><p>Taranza peaked back into the bathroom and looked around, trying to find the source of the voice, closing the cupboard, he saw someone in the mirror.</p><p> </p><p>Someone that wasn’t him, yet, they were.</p><p> </p><p>“<em> Dark Taranza </em>” Taranza growled, “why’d you decide to show face? I thought you’d be celebrating.”</p><p> </p><p>“Oh I am!” Dark Taranza devilishly cheered, “I got party hats and everything, I even baked a cake, look!” Dark Taranza grabbed a cake from the side, the frosting on the front show’d Taranza inside a mirror with X’s for eyes. “See? The mirror is there because I’m hoping Dark Meta Knight strangles you!”</p><p> </p><p>Taranza looked at the cake, then back at his reflection, “You are the most immature being I have ever met.”</p><p> </p><p>“Yeah, yeah, whatever, at least I know you’ll never be better than me~”</p><p> </p><p>Taranza paused, “What do you mean by that?”</p><p> </p><p>Dark Taranza laughed, “Oh, you know, it’s just funny how you’ve spent all your life insisting that I’m evil incarnate, and how you’re so morally superior,” Dark Taranza explained, “and then, you betray all of your friends.”</p><p> </p><p>“...Shut up.”</p><p> </p><p>“Not only did you betray them, you betrayed them over someone who’s dead!” Dark Taranza taunted.</p><p> </p><p>“<b> <em>Shut. Up.</em> </b>”</p><p> </p><p>“And the best part is, you’re the one who killed them! It’s all your fault! And now you’re ruining others lives to fix a mistake YOU made! You’re no better than me!”</p><p> </p><p>“<b>SHUT. UP!</b>” Taranza punched the mirror, shattering it, making Dark Taranza disappear, but also lodging a piece of glass in his hand. Taranza winced in pain, grabbing his hand, and falling to the ground, he reached up to the cupboard and grabbed a first aid kit. Using the tweezers he dislodged the piece of glass, he took off his glove and wrapped his hand up, infections didn’t matter, he was already gonna die. Taranza sat in the bathroom, looked at the ground, and began to cry.</p><p> </p><p>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</p><p> </p><p>“So this panel looks interesting,” Magolor commented, seeing a loose ceiling tile above them.</p><p> </p><p>“Think we can get out through there?” Meta asked.</p><p> </p><p>“Maybe, we might not be able to get Dedede through, plus there’s a “No-Flight” spell on this area, so we can’t just float up there.”</p><p> </p><p>Most of our heroes were looking for an exit, some had other matters to attend to;</p><p> </p><p>Francisca wouldn’t let go of Susie, not after this.</p><p> </p><p>“Please,” Francisca sobbed into her fianceé’s shoulder, “never leave me again.”</p><p> </p><p>“I’m right here Francisca, I’m right here, and I’m not going anywhere, I’m not leaving,” Susie whispered into Francisca’s ear.</p><p> </p><p>On the other side of the room, Dark Meta Knight was staring at himself, “How’d he get one of my clones?”</p><p> </p><p>“Maybe one just walked in the labyrinth one day?” Adeleine responded.</p><p> </p><p>“Imagine the confusion, ‘Wait, is that Dark Meta…? Dear Nova, MORPHO! GET THE TRAPS READY!’” Ribbon joked.</p><p> </p><p>In the middle of the room, Magolor was still inspecting that ceiling panel.</p><p> </p><p>Prince Fluff walked over to Magolor, “Uh, hi, I don’t believe we’ve formally met, I’m Prince Fluff,” he said, offering his hand for a handshake.</p><p> </p><p>Magolor shook Fluff’s hand and said, “Pleasure to meet you, name’s Magolor, I’m kind of a big deal around here-”</p><p> </p><p>“In your dreams Mags,” Marx commented, rolling up to the wizard and the prince, “hey, a wizard, a prince, and a bard, now all we need is a priest and we’re a D&amp;D campaign!”</p><p> </p><p>Dark Matter floated over to the group, “H̷e̶y̷ ̸g̵u̴y̸s̷.̵”</p><p> </p><p>Marx paused, “...can priests perform dark magic?”</p><p> </p><p>“They would be a knight you fucking clown,” Magolor responded.</p><p> </p><p>“I AM a clown, thank you for noticing,” Marx replied.</p><p> </p><p>“Y̵'̶k̸n̵o̸w̵ ̶w̸h̷a̵t̸?̶ ̶T̸h̴i̵s̷ ̶a̶i̶n̸'̶t̸ ̵m̶y̶ ̴c̴o̷n̶v̸e̸r̴s̶a̵t̸i̴o̶n̸,̴ ̷h̴a̵v̶e̵ ̷f̵u̴n̸ ̷n̶e̸r̵d̴s̷.̶”</p><p> </p><p>Dark Matter floated over to the corner and lied down, today had been exhausting, and it was about to get worse.</p><p> </p><p>“Heyyyyyyyyyyy, Dark Matter?” Dedede started.</p><p> </p><p>“W̵h̶a̸t̷?̷” Dark Matter groaned.</p><p> </p><p>“Yeah, so, when did you and Galacta meet?”</p><p> </p><p>Dark Matter got up and stared at Dedede, now noticing Kirby and Gooey to his side, Dark Matter sighed, “I̸ ̷k̵i̶n̷d̴ ̸o̸f̸ ̷k̸n̸e̶w̶ ̷t̷h̶i̵s̷ ̵w̶o̷u̷l̶d̶ ̸c̴o̷m̴e̷ ̸u̶p̸.̸ ̶F̷i̸n̷e̴,̸ ̶a̵ ̸l̸o̷n̶g̸ ̵t̶i̷m̴e̵ ̶a̴g̵o̸,̸ ̷l̷o̶n̸g̶ ̸b̶e̶f̶o̸r̴e̸ ̶a̷n̶y̶ ̸o̷f̷ ̵y̴o̷u̵r̷ ̴g̶r̴e̴a̸t̶-̷g̶r̶e̴a̴t̸-̸g̵r̵e̸a̵t̶-̶g̶r̵e̴a̶t̷-̴g̵r̶e̶a̸t̸ ̵g̶r̵a̵n̶d̷p̸a̵r̸e̸n̸t̴s̶ ̵e̴v̸e̴n̸ ̵e̸x̴i̶s̸t̷e̷d̷,̶ ̶h̷e̶l̴l̷,̸ ̸m̶a̸y̷b̴e̷ ̵e̴v̷e̸n̴ ̸b̷e̵f̴o̶r̵e̴ ̷D̴r̵e̸a̶m̶l̶a̶n̴d̷ ̵a̶n̸d̶ ̵F̶l̵o̸r̶a̴l̵i̵a̶,̴ ̵t̷h̸e̵r̵e̶ ̸w̸a̸s̷ ̴a̵ ̴g̴r̶o̸u̷p̷ ̶o̴f̶ ̵h̸e̴r̷o̶e̷s̵ ̶w̷h̴o̷ ̴p̸r̷o̵t̶e̷c̵t̵e̷d̵ ̸t̵h̶e̵ ̶g̴a̵l̴a̷x̷y̸.̷ ̷"̴T̸h̵e̴ ̵D̵r̵e̴a̶m̴e̷r̴s̵"̸ ̴i̶s̴ ̴w̷h̷a̵t̴ ̷t̵h̷e̴y̷ ̶c̵a̴l̶l̴e̸d̶ ̵t̷h̴e̷m̷s̵e̸l̶v̷e̴s̶,̸” Dark Matter started. “T̶h̷e̷y̵ ̸b̶u̶i̵l̶t̵ ̶t̵h̸e̸ ̷D̶r̶e̷a̶m̴ ̸P̶a̴l̷a̷c̴e̶s̴,̴ ̵m̶a̸d̵e̶ ̶s̸o̶ ̸t̶h̵e̶y̴ ̵c̶o̸u̶l̷d̶ ̸g̷e̵t̴ ̶e̴a̷c̵h̶ ̸o̴t̴h̸e̶r̴'̶s̵ ̷a̷s̶s̶i̷s̷t̴a̷n̷c̸e̶ ̴q̷u̸i̸c̴k̸l̸y̴,̸ ̶t̸h̴e̷ ̴t̸e̸a̴m̸ ̵w̵a̷s̸ ̸c̷o̴m̴p̷r̴i̸s̴e̸d̴ ̶o̸f̷ ̴f̶o̷u̶r̴ ̷i̸n̸d̶i̶v̵i̷d̸u̶a̴l̷s̷,̵ ̷G̸a̴l̵a̸c̴t̶a̵ ̷K̵n̴i̸g̸h̴t̵,̸ ̷J̴u̸d̸i̸c̸i̵o̶u̴s̸,̸ ̴t̶h̴o̴u̸g̶h̵ ̸y̷o̷u̶ ̴k̴n̵o̶w̸ ̶t̸h̶e̵m̴ ̸a̵s̷ ̵M̴o̵r̸p̷h̸o̵ ̶K̷n̵i̵g̵h̷t̴,̷ ̷D̴r̸a̵w̶c̶i̶a̷,̴ ̶a̷n̴d̵ ̸N̴e̷c̷r̵o̸d̴e̶u̴s̸.̸ ̸T̵h̴e̵y̷ ̷w̷e̴r̵e̴ ̷t̶h̵e̷ ̷o̸r̷i̶g̸i̷n̵a̶l̵ ̶S̶t̶a̷r̸ ̵A̸l̸l̴i̷e̵s̷ ̵t̸o̷ ̶p̷u̶t̴ ̴i̵t̴ ̸s̴i̷m̸p̸l̵y̴.̷”</p><p> </p><p>“Wait, all four of them are still alive, how could they have existed for, what was it, 100 million years?”</p><p> </p><p>“J̴u̴d̵i̶c̸i̴o̵u̸s̵ ̵a̵n̶d̴ ̸N̷e̷c̸r̶o̴d̷e̷u̶s̷ ̶a̷r̵e̸ ̸g̵o̶d̴s̴ ̵t̷h̴e̷y̵ ̵d̷o̶n̴'̷t̷ ̴a̸g̵e̵,̶ ̴G̸a̵l̷a̷c̶t̸a̸'̷s̵ ̵c̸a̷g̵e̵ ̶k̸e̸p̴t̶ ̴t̸h̸e̵m̶ ̸f̴r̷o̶m̶ ̴a̴g̶i̸n̷g̵,̴ ̶a̸n̶d̵ ̵D̶r̵a̴w̶c̸i̶a̶ ̶b̶e̸i̶n̸g̵ ̶t̷r̸a̵p̷p̴e̴d̸ ̵i̷n̵ ̴a̷ ̶p̴a̶i̶n̴t̵i̸n̵g̶ ̵h̶a̸d̸ ̷a̶ ̵s̷i̶m̷i̶l̷a̴r̶ ̷e̵f̶f̸e̸c̸t̴.̴”</p><p> </p><p>“Oh, well, I guess that makes sense.”</p><p> </p><p>“Y̸e̴s̸,̴ ̸w̴e̸l̷l̶,̷ ̵t̸h̵e̶y̴ ̵k̸e̴p̸t̸ ̵t̴h̶e̵ ̵g̷a̶l̸a̸x̶y̸ ̷s̵a̷f̵e̷ ̵f̴r̵o̷m̶ ̴t̵h̶r̸e̷a̴t̴s̵,̵ ̸e̸v̴e̸r̸ ̷h̴e̵a̵r̵d̸ ̷s̵o̵m̶e̶o̵n̵e̴ ̸c̴a̷l̶l̴ ̶G̸a̵l̷a̸c̴t̸a̴ ̸t̵h̵e̶ ̷'̸A̶e̸o̴n̸ ̷H̴e̴r̴o̶'̴?̷ ̷T̶h̷a̷t̵'̷s̵ ̷w̸h̶y̵.̵ ̶M̵o̵s̷t̷ ̸o̶f̵ ̴t̴h̸e̷s̸e̶ ̸t̸h̴r̴e̴a̶t̷s̸ ̶s̶i̵n̵c̵e̵ ̷t̵h̴e̶n̴ ̴h̶a̸v̸e̸ ̸d̵i̷e̶d̷,̵ ̴w̷h̴e̶t̵h̶e̴r̵ ̶b̸y̶ ̵t̵h̴e̸m̶ ̶o̶r̶ ̴n̴a̸t̴u̴r̵a̸l̵ ̸c̸a̴u̴s̵e̶s̸,̶ ̸e̵x̴c̷e̷p̸t̴ ̶f̵o̷r̴ ̵t̶w̵o̴,̷ ̸t̵h̵e̵ ̴D̶a̶r̵k̷ ̶M̶a̵t̸t̷e̶r̴ ̵h̷i̵v̵e̵m̷i̵n̷d̴,̸ ̵a̷n̶d̸ ̷N̶i̷g̶h̵t̸m̷a̴r̶e̵,̴” Dark Matter continued, “J̶u̴s̵t̶ ̸a̷s̶ ̷t̴h̷e̶y̸ ̶w̵e̷r̵e̸ ̶h̶e̶r̴e̶,̸ ̸D̴a̶r̴k̸ ̴M̴a̴t̸t̵e̶r̷ ̸a̷s̸ ̷a̵ ̴w̶h̴o̶l̸e̵ ̶w̴a̴s̸ ̵a̷ ̷r̸e̴o̷c̴c̶u̸r̵r̸i̴n̸g̵ ̷t̴h̴r̴e̵a̸t̷,̷ ̸c̷o̶n̴s̸t̸a̷n̴t̷l̶y̷ ̷t̷r̵y̷i̷n̵g̵ ̸t̶o̸ ̷t̴a̸k̶e̶ ̶o̶v̵e̸r̷ ̴t̵h̶e̵ ̸g̷a̷l̷a̴x̸y̸,̷ ̶I̸ ̴w̴a̸s̷ ̸a̵c̵t̵u̶a̸l̸l̷y̴ ̸a̸l̵i̸v̶e̶ ̵d̵u̶r̴i̶n̴g̷ ̷t̵h̴i̸s̸ ̴t̶i̴m̴e̴,̷ ̶a̴s̸ ̴I̵ ̶s̵a̶i̴d̴ ̸b̵e̸f̵o̴r̴e̶,̶ ̴I̵ ̶d̴e̵s̷t̸r̵o̶y̴e̷d̵ ̴t̶h̵e̸ ̶D̸r̸e̶a̷m̶ ̵P̸a̷l̴a̴c̵e̴ ̸o̴n̶ ̸C̶a̴v̴e̷r̸n̶a̴,̸ ̸w̶h̷i̸c̸h̵ ̶t̷i̷c̷k̷e̷d̷ ̷o̵f̵f̵ ̸G̶a̸l̵a̷c̸t̴a̸,̴ ̸w̵h̶o̷ ̶w̸a̸n̵t̸e̴d̴ ̴m̶e̷ ̶d̴e̶a̸d̶.̶”</p><p> </p><p>“So that’s why you said they’re mad at you for a 100 million year old petty reason?”</p><p> </p><p>“E̷s̵s̷e̶n̶t̵i̸a̶l̴l̴y̷,̴ ̴y̵e̴s̴,̴ ̶b̸u̸t̶,̸ ̸w̸h̴i̶l̷e̴ ̸D̴a̵r̸k̸ ̷M̷a̷t̵t̶e̵r̵ ̸w̴a̷s̵ ̷a̷ ̸p̴r̷o̴m̴i̵n̵e̷n̵t̸ ̴t̷h̶r̵e̷a̴t̶,̴ ̶N̸i̵g̷h̵t̷m̷a̵r̶e̵ ̷d̴w̶a̷r̶f̸e̶d̵ ̸u̸s̵,̸ ̸b̷o̸t̸h̵ ̸i̴n̸ ̸p̸o̸w̷e̴r̷ ̸a̸n̴d̷ ̶i̵n̷ ̸i̷m̷p̸a̴c̶t̴ ̷o̴n̸ ̷t̵h̷e̵ ̵f̸o̷u̴r̶,̶ ̶o̵n̵e̸ ̶d̸a̵y̴,̵ ̸d̷u̵r̶i̵n̵g̴ ̷a̶n̸ ̶a̶v̴e̶r̴a̸g̸e̸ ̵f̶i̴g̵h̶t̶ ̷w̷i̷t̶h̶ ̸N̴i̸g̶h̵t̷m̵a̷r̸e̴,̴ ̶s̵o̷m̸e̶t̴h̴i̴n̷g̴ ̸b̷a̸d̸ ̷h̶a̸p̴p̸e̶n̷e̵d̸.̴ ̶H̶e̶ ̷w̸o̵n̴.̷”</p><p> </p><p>“Holy shit.”</p><p> </p><p>“Poyo…”</p><p> </p><p>“Y̸e̶a̵h̷,̴ ̶h̶e̷ ̵d̵e̴f̷e̴a̵t̶e̵d̶ ̵a̶l̷l̷ ̵f̵o̷u̴r̴,̴ ̴i̵n̵ ̵a̴ ̴l̶a̵s̵t̴-̷d̷i̷t̷c̵h̵ ̴e̶f̸f̷o̷r̴t̴,̸ ̸D̸r̷a̴w̶c̸i̴a̸ ̶c̴r̷e̸a̸t̷e̸d̸ ̸t̴h̸e̴ ̴S̵t̸a̴r̶ ̶R̸o̵d̴ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̸s̶e̷a̶l̷e̶d̷ ̶h̴i̷m̸ ̷i̷n̵s̵i̴d̴e̶ ̸o̸f̵ ̶i̸t̷,̷ ̵w̸h̸i̶l̸e̶ ̵h̸e̷ ̸d̵i̵d̵n̶'̵t̵ ̷g̸e̸t̷ ̵t̸o̴ ̸t̵a̵k̴e̴ ̴o̶v̵e̶r̵,̵ ̷t̵h̷e̸ ̶D̴r̶e̴a̴m̵e̶r̵s̵ ̵f̵e̵l̸t̷ ̸t̵h̴a̸t̴ ̵l̵o̶s̶s̴,̸” Dark Matter stated, “N̵o̷w̵,̷ ̶d̵e̶s̵p̵i̷t̸e̵ ̷b̸e̵i̷n̷g̵ ̶f̷r̸i̸e̶n̷d̸s̵,̶ ̵t̴h̵e̷y̵ ̷a̶r̴g̷u̶e̵d̸,̴ ̶a̴ ̵l̵o̴t̶,̸ ̴t̷h̶i̴n̷k̵ ̶o̸f̷ ̴t̸h̴e̸ ̴r̶e̷l̸a̶t̸i̶o̴n̵s̴h̴i̷p̵ ̴b̸e̴t̷w̴e̷e̴n̵ ̵M̸a̴r̶x̴ ̴a̶n̸d̸ ̸D̴a̴r̵k̵ ̷M̵e̵t̶a̷ ̷K̵n̵i̸g̶h̶t̸,̶ ̴n̶o̵w̴ ̷a̷p̵p̷l̶y̶ ̴i̵t̸ ̶t̸o̶ ̴a̷l̵l̶ ̸f̴o̴u̴r̵.̴”</p><p> </p><p>“It’s impressive they managed to get anything done.”</p><p> </p><p>“T̵h̸e̸y̷ ̸w̴e̸r̵e̵ ̷d̷e̵s̶t̷i̵n̶e̷d̵ ̶f̶o̷r̵ ̸e̶v̷e̴n̵t̵u̴a̶l̸ ̶f̸a̵i̸l̶u̷r̶e̴,̵ ̶J̴u̵d̴i̴c̶i̴o̷u̶s̴ ̶h̵a̷d̸ ̶a̴l̵w̷a̸y̶s̸ ̷b̸e̴e̷n̴ ̸j̶e̶a̴l̸o̸u̵s̵ ̶o̶f̶ ̵t̷h̵e̵ ̸f̸a̶m̵e̷ ̵G̷a̵l̴a̵c̵t̵a̷ ̶g̷o̵t̴,̴ ̵w̸i̴t̶h̵ ̸G̵a̸l̸a̴c̶t̵a̷ ̶e̶s̷s̶e̷n̸t̸i̵a̷l̷l̸y̴ ̵b̶e̵i̷n̴g̷ ̶t̸h̸e̸ ̶f̶a̸c̴e̴ ̸o̴f̶ ̴t̴h̵e̶ ̵t̶e̸a̸m̶,̴ ̷N̶e̴c̵r̸o̶d̵e̷u̵s̴ ̸i̴s̷ ̸t̵h̸e̴ ̸g̷o̴d̶ ̸o̸f̸ ̵d̴e̸a̷t̸h̵,̶ ̴h̵e̷ ̸w̶a̴s̷ ̸e̷v̴e̶n̸t̷u̶a̷l̶l̶y̶ ̸g̷o̷n̸n̸a̴ ̸t̷u̴r̴n̸,̷ ̸D̶r̸a̷w̸c̶i̵a̸ ̸w̶a̷s̵ ̸t̶h̷e̶ ̸o̴n̸l̷y̸ ̸t̴h̵i̵n̴g̶ ̴k̷e̴e̶p̶i̸n̴g̶ ̵t̶h̸a̸t̵ ̵t̷e̷a̷m̸ ̶t̶o̸g̸e̶t̵h̵e̴r̸,̸” Dark Matter explained, “S̴o̸ ̶w̷h̷e̷n̸ ̴G̸a̵l̸a̴c̴t̸a̷ ̴l̶a̸s̷h̸e̷d̸ ̵o̸u̶t̸ ̵i̵n̸ ̶r̴a̴g̷e̶ ̴o̵v̸e̵r̸ ̸t̶h̶i̸s̸ ̴l̷o̵s̴s̵,̶ ̴t̴h̴i̷s̸ ̴o̴n̶e̴,̷ ̸s̵i̵n̴g̴l̷e̵ ̴l̶o̶s̵s̸,̴ ̴i̴n̶ ̷a̵ ̵s̸e̸a̸ ̴o̴f̴ ̷m̷i̵l̵l̴i̷o̵n̵s̶ ̵o̴f̷ ̸w̶i̶n̸s̷,̸ ̵h̵e̵ ̸c̷o̶u̵l̴d̸n̸'̷t̵ ̸h̵a̵n̷d̸l̷e̷ ̸i̴t̵,̶ ̷a̴n̷d̶ ̶t̴r̷a̴p̶p̶e̶d̵ ̴D̴r̸a̸w̶c̶i̷a̵ ̶i̴n̷ ̷h̷e̵r̴ ̴p̸a̴i̷n̵t̸i̴n̸g̴,̵ ̵w̶i̶t̸h̵ ̵n̴o̴ ̸w̷a̷y̸ ̷t̸o̴ ̶g̵e̴t̶ ̷h̸e̴r̶ ̴o̶u̶t̵.̵”</p><p> </p><p>“I’m starting to see where the seams broke…”</p><p> </p><p>“A̸f̶t̵e̶r̴ ̵t̵h̸a̴t̴ ̴N̸e̶c̸r̶o̵d̵u̸e̸s̴ ̶t̸u̸r̴n̷e̷d̷ ̴i̵n̸t̵o̵ ̸w̶h̷a̷t̴ ̴w̷e̵ ̵n̴o̸w̶ ̶k̴n̷o̵w̶ ̵h̸i̷m̶ ̵a̸s̶,̷ ̷a̸ ̶s̷e̵l̷f̶i̶s̸h̸,̸ ̴e̸v̵i̵l̸ ̶g̵o̸d̵ ̴o̷f̸ ̷d̷e̶a̴t̴h̴,̵ ̸l̵e̶a̴v̴i̵n̴g̵ ̴o̶n̷l̵y̸ ̵G̵a̴l̸a̴c̵t̶a̴ ̶a̶n̷d̷ ̶J̸u̴d̴i̶c̸i̷o̸u̵s̵,̷ ̴a̸n̴d̶ ̴G̵a̶l̷a̷c̶t̴a̷ ̴h̷a̶d̷ ̷g̵r̶o̸w̵n̷ ̵t̴h̶e̷i̵r̵ ̶t̶e̷m̴p̷e̶r̶,̷ ̶l̴a̷s̶h̸i̶n̸g̴ ̵o̶u̶t̵ ̸i̷n̵ ̸r̶a̴g̵e̵ ̶a̷t̵ ̴e̴v̷e̴r̵y̵o̷n̴e̴ ̶t̷h̴e̶y̸ ̸s̵a̷w̴,̵ ̵J̴u̴d̷i̷c̸i̷o̶u̷s̷ ̴t̸h̴e̷n̸ ̴q̶u̷i̸t̵,̸ ̸s̵e̴e̸i̵n̸g̴ ̵w̸h̴a̷t̷ ̷t̷h̵e̷i̶r̶ ̵f̶o̴r̶m̸e̷r̴ ̴f̵r̷i̸e̸n̵d̸s̷ ̸h̵a̶d̵ ̸b̷e̷c̸o̶m̷e̷,̴ ̴t̵h̷e̵y̸ ̸t̷u̴r̵n̵e̴d̷ ̴i̵n̶t̸o̸ ̶t̸h̵e̴i̷r̷ ̴b̴u̶t̶t̶e̶r̷f̷l̶y̴ ̵f̵o̸r̵m̵,̵ ̴a̵n̸d̴ ̵o̶n̶l̵y̵ ̶d̸e̵c̸i̶d̸e̴d̶ ̷t̵o̵ ̵r̶e̷a̸p̴p̴e̶a̴r̸ ̵n̴o̵w̴,̸ ̶” Dark Matter said, T̸h̷e̴y̴ ̸g̶o̶t̶ ̸s̸o̵ ̴w̵e̶a̵k̶ ̶t̶h̴e̴y̷ ̵c̷a̶n̵'̴t̶ ̶e̸v̷e̴n̸ ̸g̸o̵ ̶b̵a̷c̵k̷ ̷i̶n̸t̷o̷ ̴t̵h̶e̵i̶r̶ ̸n̶o̴r̸m̷a̷l̴ ̷f̸o̵r̸m̵,̴ ̶t̸h̴e̶y̵ ̸h̵a̴v̵e̵ ̸t̷o̷ ̷p̷o̶s̷s̴e̷s̵s̴ ̸p̶e̴o̵p̷l̶e̸,̸ ̷b̶u̶t̸,̷ ̸w̶h̸e̴n̴ ̸e̶v̷e̵r̸y̷o̶n̶e̸ ̷q̵u̷i̵t̶,̸ ̶a̴n̶d̶ ̷G̵a̷l̸a̵c̷t̶a̵ ̸w̷a̵s̶ ̵o̶n̶ ̷a̵ ̶r̴a̴m̵p̶a̸g̷e̵,̴ ̴a̶n̸d̸ ̷t̷h̸e̷y̶ ̷e̷v̸e̴n̵ ̶s̶e̸a̶l̸e̶d̵ ̶D̶a̵r̸k̴ ̷M̸a̸t̸t̸e̸r̵ ̴a̴w̸a̴y̷,̸ ̵b̶u̶t̷ ̶t̸h̴e̶y̴ ̷h̴u̸r̵t̷ ̴t̶h̴o̴u̸s̴a̵n̶d̴s̷ ̸o̸f̶ ̷i̶n̸n̶o̶c̵e̵n̶t̵s̶,̴ ̷s̷o̷,̷ ̵a̴ ̶s̶m̸a̶l̶l̵ ̴g̴r̷o̴u̸p̶ ̵o̸f̴ ̶a̸s̵t̵r̸a̸l̷s̸ ̵t̵r̴a̶p̴p̶e̵d̵ ̶h̸i̷m̸ ̷i̵n̶ ̶a̶ ̸c̸e̷l̷l̷ ̶t̸r̸a̶p̸p̴e̴d̵ ̷i̷n̴ ̵t̴i̷m̵e̷,̶ ̷y̴o̸u̵ ̶c̵a̸n̸'̸t̸ ̵t̷h̸i̷n̵k̷,̸ ̸m̸o̸v̶e̵,̷ ̵o̴r̶ ̷b̸r̴e̸a̴t̶h̷e̷,̴ ̴i̴t̸'̵s̶ ̶l̶i̷k̷e̶ ̷j̴u̶m̴p̶i̴n̶g̴ ̷t̷h̷r̴o̴u̴g̷h̶ ̶t̴i̷m̷e̵ ̷g̶o̷i̷n̵g̵ ̵i̸n̶ ̴a̴n̷d̵ ̶o̵u̶t̷,̸ ̴a̶n̵d̸ ̷t̶h̶e̴y̷ ̸b̴u̴r̸i̴e̸d̵ ̴G̷a̵l̵a̷c̸t̵a̸ ̵i̵n̷ ̷t̷h̶e̶ ̵f̴a̵r̶t̶h̸e̸s̴t̴ ̶c̵o̸r̵n̸e̷r̵s̵ ̷o̵f̴ ̷t̵h̸e̷ ̶g̶a̴l̸a̶x̵y̵,̴ ̶d̷o̴o̸m̵e̷d̴ ̶t̸o̴ ̶n̵e̴v̵e̵r̵ ̶l̴e̷a̵v̴e̴.̵”</p><p> </p><p>“...Until-”</p><p> </p><p>“U̸n̷t̸i̴l̷ ̸M̵e̷t̴a̸ ̶K̵n̸i̵g̴h̴t̸ ̴w̸i̴s̵h̴e̵d̸ ̵t̸o̸ ̸f̵i̴g̴h̴t̷ ̴t̴h̷e̶ ̸G̴r̴e̶a̴t̶e̷s̴t̵ ̶W̵a̷r̴r̴i̷o̸r̷ ̵i̸n̷ ̷t̸h̵e̸ ̵G̷a̵l̶a̸x̶y̷,̸ ̷w̶h̸o̶ ̶e̸l̸s̸e̵ ̷w̸o̶u̸l̵d̸ ̶h̷a̸v̴e̶ ̸t̷h̶a̸t̵ ̴t̴i̸t̵l̶e̷ ̶b̷u̶t̷ ̷t̴h̸e̸ ̷k̷n̵i̶g̴h̶t̶ ̷w̶h̷o̵ ̶b̴e̶a̸t̷ ̸D̴a̵r̴k̷ ̷M̵a̴t̷t̶e̸r̸?̶ ̵A̵n̸y̵w̴a̵y̸,̷ ̶t̶h̸a̷t̸ ̸s̴e̶a̸l̴ ̴e̵v̴e̸n̷t̸u̸a̷l̶l̷y̴ ̸b̸r̷o̸k̵e̴,̷ ̸s̶e̷t̷t̵i̷n̸g̴ ̸D̵a̴r̵k̸ ̵M̸a̶t̵t̵e̴r̶ ̵l̵o̶o̵s̸e̵,̵ ̵I̷ ̵d̵o̸n̶'̵t̷ ̷k̸n̸o̷w̴ ̴h̷o̷w̷ ̴t̷h̶e̴y̷ ̷n̷a̶b̶b̸e̷d̷ ̴G̷a̵l̵a̴c̶t̴a̸ ̷t̵h̴i̵s̸ ̵t̵i̴m̵e̷,̵ ̷b̶u̶t̷ ̴i̴t̶ ̸s̷e̵e̸m̸s̵ ̷t̴h̴e̵y̸ ̴o̷n̴l̴y̸ ̴w̶a̸n̸t̵e̴d̴ ̶M̷o̷r̷p̷h̷o̸ ̴K̷n̷i̴g̵h̷t̶.̷.̵.̶”</p><p> </p><p>“...So…. is Paintra actually Drawcia’s sister?”</p><p> </p><p>“I̸ ̸d̴o̵n̴'̵t̵ ̴k̵n̵o̴w̸,̵ ̶m̷y̵ ̴p̷e̴r̵s̷o̵n̷a̴l̶ ̴t̴h̶e̸o̵r̶y̸ ̴i̵s̸ ̸t̴h̵a̸t̵ ̵P̴a̸i̸n̵t̸r̷a̸ ̶i̷s̶ ̵o̵n̸e̷ ̷o̷f̵ ̷D̵r̷a̷w̵c̷i̴a̵'̴s̶ ̷d̷e̷s̸c̵e̴n̸d̶a̶n̷t̶s̷,̵ ̶b̶u̷t̵ ̷D̵r̵a̷w̷c̶i̸a̷ ̴h̵a̴s̴ ̵c̷o̵n̵v̵i̷n̵c̴e̸d̶ ̶P̵a̸i̶n̷t̸r̸a̸ ̶t̸h̴e̴y̸'̷r̶e̶ ̸s̴i̵s̷t̵e̴r̵s̵ ̸s̶o̸ ̶P̴a̶i̶n̴t̸r̵a̸ ̵w̴o̵u̸l̶d̵n̷'̸t̴ ̵l̵e̵a̴r̴n̸ ̷o̵f̷ ̸D̵r̶a̵w̸c̷i̶a̴'̴s̸ ̶p̶a̵s̴t̸,̵ ̵b̵u̸t̶ ̴I̸ ̷d̸o̷n̵'̷t̴ ̵k̴n̶o̸w̴ ̴f̵o̷r̷ ̷s̸u̸r̴e̵.̴”</p><p> </p><p>“Hey guys I think we can get out through here!” Magolor yelled, pointing to the open vent above him.</p><p> </p><p>“What makes you say that?” Flamberge asked.</p><p> </p><p>Meta popped his head around the corner of the vent, “Because I’m up here, and there’s a way out from here!”</p><p> </p><p>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</p><p> </p><p>Taranza put on a new glove after throwing out the old ripped one, he had taken special care to throw out all of his mirrors. Walking into the surveillance room, Taranza grabbed the Time Breaker, sat down, and inspected it, he looked through the timelines and always saw one future. One where he wins, yet, he also saw futures where Zan was heartbroken, where Daorach was betrayed, where Dedede was disappointed, Taranza did his best to ignore those, they won’t care, they’ll get over him in a month.. Standing up, Taranza walked to the main summoning room, he put the orb on the pedestal and inspected it, “45 minutes left,” he audibly noted, “this’ll be done in no time.”</p><p> </p><p>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</p><p> </p><p>Galacta Knight awoke from their unconscious state, looking around, Galacta saw the room was empty, he heard someone though.</p><p> </p><p>“Hey Galacta, go to the right and look up,” the voice told him, Galacta begrudgingly complied, looking up, he saw Meta Knight and Kirby staring down at him.</p><p> </p><p>“So, are you going to taunt me and leave me here to rot?” Galacta asked.</p><p> </p><p>“Depends on if you say yes or no,” Meta responded.</p><p> </p><p>“Yes or no to what?”</p><p> </p><p>“Galacta... It’s no secret you’re a dangerous criminal-”</p><p> </p><p>“I’m not a-”</p><p> </p><p>“Yes you are, and Galacta, we can’t have you running around, so, I will give you two options.”</p><p> </p><p>“Yeah, yeah, what?”</p><p> </p><p>“Join the Star Allies or rot here.”</p><p> </p><p>“I’ll rot here.”</p><p> </p><p>“Really?”</p><p> </p><p>“Yes! I’m never going to help you in any way! You’ve brought nothing but pain and suffering onto me! Why would I ever help you?”</p><p> </p><p>“Because you could apologize to Drawcia.”</p><p> </p><p>“...What?”</p><p> </p><p>“Dark Matter told us, if you join us, we’ll let you go, as long as you don’t commit moral atrocities and actually assist when needed, you’ll be free to roam, and Fluff knows where Drawcia is.”</p><p> </p><p>“...Let me think about it.”</p><p> </p><p>“I’ll give you ten minutes.”</p><p> </p><p>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</p><p> </p><p>Taranza sharpened an ornate knife, a back-up plan, just in case. Taranza took a second to inspect the knife, it was a gift from his parents a long while back, when he wanted to become a cook, the knife had a flower pattern going from the handle to the blade. Putting the knife down, Taranza stepped out of his bedroom and walked to the surveillance room, there, he saw that they had found the planted way out, perfect. Taranza walked away from the cameras and past the Time Breaker, he heard a very faint <em> “Taranza” </em>, a sign that the process is almost complete, the orb just has to power up a little more to bring someone back from the dead, and he’ll be done.</p><p> </p><p>“What gall.”, “You’re no better than me.”</p><p> </p><p>Taranza still heard that in his head, was he any better than Dark Taranza? Surely he was, right?</p><p> </p><p>Taranza took one final moment to admire the picture of Zan on his desk, he was going to miss spending time with her... making her laugh…. being happy… feeling like a person again…</p><p> </p><p>*<em> I shouldn’t even bother with this, she probably doesn’t love me anymore, no use grieving over more than one thing </em>*</p><p> </p><p>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</p><p> </p><p>Zan most certainly still loved Taranza.</p><p> </p><p>And that’s why this hurt.</p><p> </p><p>Walking into an armory, Zan summoned her spear, and looked at it, contemplating her options.</p><p> </p><p>“Guys… do you really think our Taranza is still in there?”</p><p> </p><p>“Absolutely.”</p><p> </p><p>“100%”</p><p> </p><p>“I can prove it,” Fluff replied.</p><p> </p><p>“W-what?”</p><p> </p><p>“*<em> sigh </em>* Okay, so, according to Taranza, my fight with Yin-Yarn was impossible, I…” Prince Fluff looked down in shame, “I couldn’t beat him, his tank form beat me into the pavement every time, but after a dozen tries, he came out and… let me go, he forfeited the fight, and even said if I fell on the way back he’d cast a healing spell, I don’t really know much about him, but there’s no way he’s pure evil.”</p><p> </p><p>Zan sighed, “Thanks Fluff, that’s comforting but… he was going to propose to me, yet didn’t, he opted for this… just… why?”</p><p> </p><p>“Wait, he was going to propose to you?” Dedede asked.</p><p> </p><p>“Yeah, Meta Knight found an engagement ring in one of the hidden rooms.”</p><p> </p><p>Dedede chuckled, “Zan, he’s been trying to propose for months now.”</p><p> </p><p>“Wait, really?”</p><p> </p><p>“Yeah, a few months ago he popped into Castle Dedede for a visit, and while there he asked me how I proposed to Meta Knight, I told him I just waited for a nice moment and then asked, I’ve been waiting for him to propose since then.”</p><p> </p><p>“...I… I don’t know how to feel,” Zan commented.</p><p> </p><p>Over in the storage room, Galacta was weighing out their options, pacing back and forth.</p><p> </p><p>“Hey we found your lance and shield if that sweetens the deal,” Daroach said.</p><p> </p><p>“...Get Meta Knight, I have a proposal.”</p><p> </p><p>“Oh wow you’re actually doing it, Meta? They’ve got an answer now,” Daroach called, leaving so Meta could fit in the vent.</p><p> </p><p>“So, what’ll it be? Friend or death?”</p><p> </p><p>“I propose this: I play nice and am allowed to roam free, and I will help you whenever needed, however, at minimum I need at least three planets to be in jeopardy before I help,” Galacta explained.</p><p> </p><p>Meta turned to talk to someone in the armory, then looked at Galacta and said, “Deal, Daroach throw down the rope.”</p><p> </p><p>Daroach threw down said rope and Galacta climbed through the vent, and into the armory. “Everyone welcome our newest Star Ally, Galacta Knight.”</p><p> </p><p>Galacta Knight shuddered, “I feel weak.”</p><p> </p><p>“You get used to it,” Dark Meta commented.</p><p> </p><p>Dark Matter looked at the people around them, then said, “S̸o̷,̷ ̶i̴s̸ ̶t̸h̸i̶s̸ ̷t̵h̷e̶ ̵p̸a̴r̵t̷ ̸w̵h̴e̶r̴e̸ ̶y̵o̴u̸ ̵k̸i̷l̵l̴ ̶m̴e̵?̸”</p><p> </p><p>“Pardon?” Meta Knight responded.</p><p> </p><p>“I̵ ̶m̸e̸a̴n̵,̷ ̷I̶'̷m̶ ̷n̸o̵t̷ ̵r̸e̷a̶l̵l̸y̷ ̴u̴s̴e̴f̷u̵l̸ ̶a̶n̴y̵m̸o̷r̶e̸ ̵r̶i̴g̵h̶t̸?̵ ̴Y̴o̷u̷ ̸h̵a̸v̷e̷ ̸S̶u̶s̴i̴e̴ ̴b̵a̴c̸k̸,̸ ̵y̸o̸u̵ ̵d̴o̴n̵'̶t̶ ̷n̶e̷e̸d̴ ̴m̵e̷ ̴t̷o̷ ̵s̴t̵o̴p̴ ̵t̶i̴m̷e̷ ̸t̷r̸a̷v̷e̴l̷ ̶a̷n̸y̸m̵o̶r̴e̷,̸ ̵s̴o̴,̵ ̷y̸o̴u̴ ̴g̷o̷n̸n̵a̵ ̶k̴i̷l̶l̵ ̸m̵e̸ ̷o̴r̵ ̶w̵h̸a̸t̴?̶”</p><p> </p><p>“I say we kill ‘em” Galacta stated.</p><p> </p><p>“Of course you do, Dark Matter, we’re not gonna kill you,” Dedede said.</p><p> </p><p>“K̶i̸n̶d̸ ̸o̷f̵ ̵a̴ ̷s̶t̷u̴p̸i̴d̶ ̷d̶e̵c̴i̶s̴i̸o̴n̸ ̵o̶n̸ ̴y̶o̶u̵r̴ ̵p̴a̴r̵t̴,̸ ̴k̴i̸l̶l̸i̵n̶g̵ ̶m̷e̵ ̴d̸e̵s̵t̴r̶o̶y̸s̵ ̴D̶a̴r̷k̷ ̴M̶a̸t̸t̶e̷r̸,̷ ̵o̵n̸e̸ ̷q̷u̸i̴c̴k̸ ̴s̷t̶a̴b̵ ̸a̴n̶d̴ ̵b̴o̷o̵m̷,̸ ̷n̸o̸ ̶m̵o̸r̶e̸ ̴v̶i̸l̸l̶a̴i̸n̷,̶” Dark Matter explained.</p><p> </p><p>“I pardoned you, Dark Matter.”</p><p> </p><p>“Y̷e̴s̷ ̷a̶n̸d̶ ̴t̷h̴a̶t̶ ̴w̶a̵s̶ ̶a̶ ̷k̴i̵n̷d̷ ̴d̵e̶c̵i̵s̷i̷o̵n̸ ̸o̶n̵ ̸y̵o̵u̸r̸ ̴p̵a̷r̷t̷ ̷b̶u̵t̶ ̷i̸n̶ ̷t̴r̶u̸t̴h̷ ̷i̷t̵ ̸d̷o̸e̷s̶n̵'̸t̴ ̵m̵a̴t̴t̷e̸r̷.̷”</p><p> </p><p>“Wait, let me get this straight, you’re the last piece of Dark Matter?” Susie asked.</p><p> </p><p>“Y̵e̷s̴,̶ ̸y̵e̸s̶ ̷I̸ ̵a̵m̷,̷ ̴n̴o̷t̷ ̵c̸o̵u̵n̴t̶i̷n̴g̵ ̸G̴o̶o̷e̵y̷ ̸o̸f̴ ̸c̵o̶u̶r̵s̷e̷,̴ ̶I̶ ̸s̸i̷m̸p̴l̷y̷ ̴d̶o̷n̶'̷t̸ ̸h̸a̸v̶e̸ ̵t̶h̶e̵ ̸e̴n̶e̵r̴g̴y̷ ̵n̶o̴r̸ ̵p̸o̴w̸e̶r̴ ̸t̷o̶ ̸t̶r̶y̷ ̴a̷n̵d̵ ̵t̵a̷k̵e̸ ̶o̸v̶e̸r̷ ̷t̷h̵e̶ ̶g̵a̵l̸a̶x̵y̷ ̸a̵n̴y̶m̷o̵r̵e̸,̸ ̶a̶l̴l̵ ̸t̷h̶i̶s̴ ̷h̴a̵s̴ ̷b̸e̷e̵n̷ ̶i̶n̵c̸r̶e̷d̴i̴b̶l̸y̵ ̵s̸t̵r̵e̵s̶s̷f̵u̴l̸,̷ ̴I̴ ̸o̵n̴l̶y̷ ̴p̸o̵p̶p̵e̶d̶ ̶i̴n̵ ̶t̵o̴ ̸t̸e̴l̵l̷ ̴G̴o̷o̶e̴y̶,̵ ̴a̵n̷d̴ ̶t̸h̴e̶n̸ ̶I̴ ̵p̷l̷a̵n̷n̸e̶d̶ ̶o̵n̴ ̸d̵y̸i̶n̴g̶,̷” Dark Matter started, “h̵e̴l̷l̸,̷ ̷I̸'̸l̵l̴ ̴e̶v̶e̶n̶ ̴d̸o̵ ̴i̷t̴ ̷f̴o̵r̵ ̸y̷o̷u̴,̴” Dark Matter turn the Rainbow Blade to face them, and tried to stab at the eye in their chest, but was blocked by Meta Knight.</p><p> </p><p>“You’ve proven yourself changed, Dark Matter, I see no point in killing you,” Meta explained.</p><p> </p><p>“I̴ ̸s̴e̶e̷ ̶t̶h̵e̷ ̶p̴o̷i̸n̴t̵,̷ ̷k̵i̵l̸l̷i̴n̴g̸ ̵D̸a̶r̸k̷ ̸M̷a̷t̶t̴e̸r̸,̸ ̸y̶o̸u̵ ̵a̸l̶l̶ ̷w̵a̵n̴n̸a̵ ̴d̸o̵ ̵t̶h̵a̴t̶ ̵r̸i̶g̴h̴t̵?̴”</p><p> </p><p>Nobody responded.</p><p> </p><p>“C̷'̴m̸o̶n̶,̴ ̴I̶'̷m̵ ̵D̶A̶R̴K̶ ̴M̶A̸T̷T̵E̸R̵,̶ ̵y̸o̵u̵'̶v̷e̷ ̶a̷l̶l̴ ̵h̵a̸t̸e̷d̷ ̸m̵e̴ ̴f̵o̷r̵ ̶y̸e̸a̵r̸s̴,̶ ̸j̶u̵s̴t̷ ̴l̴e̶t̵ ̷m̸e̸ ̸d̷i̵e̸ ̶a̸n̶d̸ ̷g̸e̴t̷ ̷t̷h̶i̵s̵ ̵o̵v̶e̷r̵ ̶w̶i̶t̵h̸.̸”</p><p> </p><p>“Yeah, you’re right, you are Dark Matter,” Daroach responded, “you wanna know something else? I’m a thief, Susie and Dark Meta Knight are murderers, and Marx and Magolor are traitors, so tell me Dark Matter, why are we still alive?”</p><p> </p><p>“Y̴o̷u̵ ̸a̸l̴l̷ ̷n̸e̸v̵e̵r̷ ̷l̷a̵c̵k̸e̴d̶ ̷g̵o̴o̸d̴ ̴q̷u̶a̷l̸i̴t̵i̷e̴s̶,̷ ̸I̸ ̴d̸o̶,̴ ̶I̴'̸m̴ ̸l̵i̷t̸e̴r̷a̶l̶ ̴e̵v̵i̶l̵ ̵i̶n̶c̵a̵r̸n̸a̶t̴e̶.̴”</p><p> </p><p>“Yeah, right,” Magolor replied, “for being ‘evil incarnate’ you sure are a good older sibling.”</p><p> </p><p>“He’s right y’know,” Rick added.</p><p> </p><p>“N̴o̴,̷ ̶R̸i̶c̶k̵,̷ ̴I̵'̸m̸ ̸s̶t̴i̴l̵l̷ ̸n̴o̶t̸ ̸a̸c̷c̸e̶p̶t̵i̶n̸g̷ ̴t̷h̶e̵ ̴o̷f̵f̴e̸r̴,̷ ̵I̷'̶m̷ ̴n̵o̶t̴ ̷w̴o̴r̷t̴h̶ ̸y̴o̸u̶r̴ ̸t̷i̶m̵e̷.̷”</p><p> </p><p>“What are you talking about?” Meta Knight asked.</p><p> </p><p>“Me, Rick, and Kine offered Dark Matter a spot on the Star Allies,” Coo explained.</p><p> </p><p>“W̴h̶i̴c̷h̸ ̴i̵s̷ ̸a̵ ̵s̵t̴u̵p̷i̴d̴ ̸i̶d̵e̷a̵!̵”</p><p> </p><p>“I’m not opposed to it,” Meta replied, “anyone here opposed to it?”</p><p> </p><p>“I am.”</p><p> </p><p>“Galacta, you’re fully welcome to jump back into that room,” Daroach said, gesturing towards the open vent.</p><p> </p><p>Galacta stared at the vent, “I’m thinking about it.”</p><p> </p><p>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</p><p> </p><p>Taranza looked at the three hired hands in front of him.</p><p> </p><p>“You are to only challenge and wear them down, do not kill them, and if any of you seriously injure Zan Partizanne, King Dedede, or Daroach, I will have your heads,” he threatened.</p><p> </p><p>Gryll rolled their eyes, “Yeah, yeah, we know, shoot for the legs and what not, don’t see why it’s necessary.”</p><p> </p><p>“I would like to point out that you just asked a piece of Dark Matter to play nice,” Dark Crafter added.</p><p> </p><p>“Why is this even worth my time?” D-Mind asked, “Why don’t I just kill you and take the artifact?”</p><p> </p><p>“Because if you do, you won’t know how to beat Kirby, and you’ll get stomped into the pavement,” Taranza explained, “do your chores and you’ll be able to win in your timeline.”</p><p> </p><p>“And why should we believe you?” Gryll asked.</p><p> </p><p>“Because I know EXACTLY how you all lose, D-Mind fell to arrogance, Dark Crafter is horrible at possession, and Kirby broke your broom.”</p><p> </p><p>“Huh.”</p><p> </p><p>“And if you do your jobs well, I’ll tell you the exact artifact that’s Kirby’s weakness,” Taranza added. Mildly annoyed, yet satisfied, the villains left to deal with the heroes, Taranza floated over to his desk, a butterfly landed on it, Taranza looked at the butterfly and said, “No I’m not going to actually tell them, they’ll get beaten up instantly and if they do get back here I’ll just send them back to their own timelines.”</p><p> </p><p>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</p><p> </p><p>“Looks like the door has a triple lock on it,” Daroach said, inspecting the door to Taranza’s lair, “and it’s magic too, so we can’t just pick them or break the door down.”</p><p> </p><p>Galacta looked around the room, before noticing a note on a side table, picking it up, they read, “‘If you lose the keys <em> Morpho </em>,’” Galacta started, offended at the mere mention of Morpho Knight’s name, “‘there are spares in the first aid room, storage, and galley, sincerely, Taranza’, so who’s going out?”</p><p> </p><p>“Adeleine, Ribbon, and Prince Fluff, you all head to the gallery, Galacta, me, and Dark Meta Knight will go to the medical bay, and Daroach, Marx, and Magolor will go back to storage, I suspect he has people waiting for us,” Meta Knight informed.</p><p> </p><p>“I’m fine with this,” Fluff said, hopping off his chair and walking down a hall with a gallery sign pointed down it.</p><p> </p><p>“Yay an art buddy!” Adeleine excitedly whispered, walking down the hall.</p><p> </p><p>Dark Meta picked up Dark Galaxia, Galacta picked up their lance and shield, and Meta began walking down the hall to the medical bay. Daroach gestured for Marx and Magolor to follow him, and he walked back to storage.</p><p> </p><p>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</p><p> </p><p>Walking into the gallery, Adeleine took notice of the different paintings of the Star Allies, they all looked hand painted, and were pretty pretty. Ribbon didn’t know what to feel looking at the art around her, it was flattering, yeah, but why did Taranza have this room? Fluff felt indifferent to the art around him, looking to the right he saw an unfinished painting of him lying on the ground.</p><p> </p><p>*<em> Guess he didn’t have enough time to paint me </em>* Fluff thought</p><p> </p><p>“All these paintings, so little talent,” a voice called out from the shadows. Floating forward, the voice revealed itself to be Dark Crafter, “I have to give Taranza a lecture on color theory later.”</p><p> </p><p>“Soooo do either of you two know this guy?” Fluff asked, looking at Adeleine and Ribbon.</p><p> </p><p>“Not really, I know they’re part of Dark Matter, but not much else,” Adeleine responded.</p><p> </p><p>“Like, seriously, the color’s all wrong!”</p><p> </p><p>“What are they talking about?” Ribbon whispered.</p><p> </p><p>“Something about color theory? I don’t know, the paintings look good to me,” Adeleine whispered back.</p><p> </p><p>“Guess we got to take care of this idiot,” Fluff said, walking up to Dark Crafter, “hey bitch, you wouldn’t happen to know where the key is would you?”</p><p> </p><p>“I do! It’s right here!” Dark Crafter responded, pulling out a key, “Boss man said to not let you idiots have it.”</p><p> </p><p>Adeleine pulled out her paintbrush, Ribbon pulled out her crystal gun, and Fluff transformed into his car form, “Well, then I guess we’ll just have to take it from you.”</p><p> </p><p>“Y’know, he told me not to kill or seriously injure, but to be honest, I don’t care what he wants, so do me a favor, and stand still.” With that, Dark Crafter dashed at the trio, trying to do the villain thing and ram into them, Ribbon grabbed Adeleine and pulled her out of the way and Fluff flattened himself to duck. Once Dark Crafter passed over, they released a few mines behind them, Fluff accidentally whipped one and hurt himself, knocking him back. Ribbon looked at Adeleine, who nodded, Ribbon lifted up Adeleine and threw her at Dark Crafter, while being thrown, Adeleine painted a picture of Kracko, the cloud came to life and zapped Dark Crafter. Enraged, the villain slashed at the image, destroying it, but in their anger, they got grabbed by Prince Fluff and thrown against one of the paintings, Dark Crafter shot the Dark Matter Trademark; lasers, at Prince Fluff. Fluff turned into car form to dodge around the beam, Ribbon shot Dark Crafter with the crystal gun, diverting their attention, Adeleine painted the Ice Dragon and began trying to freeze Dark Crafter, who was only hurt. Fluff noticed Adeleine could bring things into reality, and ran over to her.</p><p> </p><p>“I need you to paint something for me,” Fluff quickly said.</p><p> </p><p>“Okay, what?” Adeleine asked, holding her paintbrush to the canvas.</p><p> </p><p>“It’s called a Metamortex, paint a green circle, then paint a blue face in the middle, oh, and make it look like yarn,” Fluff explained, looking up, he saw an incoming blast of paint, he pushed him and Adeleine out of the way. “And do it in a timely manner please,” he added, driving away from Adeleine to help Ribbon.</p><p> </p><p>Adeleine began painting the Metamortex, with her usual paintings, she knew them by heart, but this was something new and was… difficult to draw, especially the yarn texture. When she finished she looked at the painting and pointed her paintbrush at the easel, just in case. Then, a small green orb popped out, glowing, Fluff grabbed the Metamortex with his whip, absorbing the power-up, Fluff turned himself into the tankbot, grinning, he set the cannon on Dark Crafter.</p><p> </p><p>“...Oh shit.”</p><p> </p><p>Fluff fired the cannon directly into Dark Crafter’s face, knocking the villain to the ground, grinning, Fluff ran over Dark Crafter, who finally went out cold. Glowing white and disappearing, Dark Crafter dropped the key around his neck, Ribbon picked it up.</p><p> </p><p>“Well, that went well,” Ribbon commented.</p><p> </p><p>“How are you gonna get out of that thing?” Adeleine asked.</p><p> </p><p>“We passed a reel gate a while back, I’ll just go through that.”</p><p> </p><p>“Gotcha.”</p><p> </p><p>And with that, the trio walked back down the hall to put their key in the door.</p><p> </p><p>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</p><p> </p><p>Taranza began messing with the Time Breaker, activating it to try to do something very specific.</p><p> </p><p>“Alright, here goes nothing,” Taranza muttered, aiming the Time Breaker at a nearby vase, Taranza activated it, and it shot out a dark laser, when it collided with the vase, the vase rapidly reverted back into sand. Taranza smiled, he went over to touch the sand to verify, but when he touched the sand, he burned his hand on it. Taranza screamed in pain, and grabbed his hand, forcibly shutting his eyes in pain, Taranza fell to the ground, and began tearing up, he got back up and floated to the kitchen, pouring running cold water over his hand after removing his glove. “It warms up the object, got it,” Taranza said, wincing.</p><p> </p><p>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</p><p> </p><p>Zan shined her spear with a towel, knowing that there would be a fight behind the door behind her, she didn’t know what to expect.</p><p> </p><p>But she definitely didn’t expect to hear Taranza scream.</p><p> </p><p>It sounded awful, she put her ear to the door, she heard him fall to the ground.</p><p> </p><p>“Taranza?” she called.</p><p> </p><p>No response.</p><p> </p><p>She was getting scared, they needed to open this door fast.</p><p> </p><p>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</p><p> </p><p>Daroach jumped down into the storage room and looked around.</p><p> </p><p>“Don’t see anyone, you two can come down,” he said.</p><p> </p><p>Magolor and Marx jumped back into storage, Magolor looked around him, “So the key’s got to be in one of these boxes, put any box you’ve already searched and put it in the corner over there,” he ordered, pointing to an empty corner.</p><p> </p><p>“Got it.”</p><p> </p><p>“Copy.”</p><p> </p><p>Box by box, they went through everything in the storage room, and they found… nothing.</p><p> </p><p>“ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME!?” Marx screamed, “NOTHING!?”</p><p> </p><p>“I don’t know what you want me to say Marx, there’s nothing in here,” Magolor responded.</p><p> </p><p>“Did we really fucking miss it?” Daroach asked, staring at the pile behind him.</p><p> </p><p>“Nah,” a voice called from the rafters, looking up, the trio saw a witch-like figure, “because it’s right here,” they said, twirling the key around their finger.</p><p> </p><p>“Who are you and how long have you been here?” Daroach asked, pointing his cane at the villain.</p><p> </p><p>“Name’s Gryll, and I’ve been here since you entered, it was just funny seeing you open boxes,” Gryll explained, grinning.</p><p> </p><p>“Oh hey! Kirby’s told us about you!” Marx replied, “you’re that witch who challenged all of Popstar to some tetris knock off right?”</p><p> </p><p>“Don’t know what you’re talking about,” Gryll responded, hopping to the floor, “but, somebody in a green suit asked me to beat you all up, soooo, do me a favor, don’t fight back.” With that, Gryll blasted a magic missile from their broom, trying to hit the trio, all of whom dodged.</p><p> </p><p>“Listen, Gryll, we’re way out of your league, we don’t really have to fight,” Daroach said.</p><p> </p><p>“But the boss guy promised me a reward!” Gryll claimed, shooting another blast.</p><p> </p><p>“Do you really think he’s gonna pay you?” Daroach asked, “he sent you here on a suicide mission essentially, listen, we know your boss, his name is Taranza,” Daroach explained, pulling out his wallet and showing Gryll a picture of him and Taranza. “And he clearly would rather us not get hurt, otherwise he would’ve killed us when he had us in cages, so… do you really think he plans on rewarding you?”</p><p> </p><p>THAT’S.... a… good point…” Gryll replied.</p><p> </p><p>“I mean, if you forfeit, we don’t have to fight, and we can stick it to him,” Magolor offered.</p><p> </p><p>Gryll thought about it, smiled, and tossed Daroach the key, “Kick his ass,” they said, before turning white and disappearing.</p><p> </p><p>“Well that was easy,” Marx commented, “up we go!” Marx flew up to the vent, Magolor followed, Daroach looked at the pair.</p><p> </p><p>“‘<em> Oh yeah we’ll just fly up there and leave Daroach to walk back cause we’re funny </em>’” Daroach mocked, climbing the rope back up.</p><p> </p><p>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</p><p> </p><p>“Gryll why did you do that?” Taranza rhetorically asked, “you might’ve just cost me my victory.”</p><p> </p><p>Taranza looked around the room, did he really want to continue? Others seemed happy forfeiting… maybe he should follow suit? No, they’ll reject him, he’s gone too far. He took a quick glance at the Time Breaker, 30 minutes left, he took a deep breath, everything was going to be fine.</p><p> </p><p>She was going to live again, no matter what the others wanted.</p><p> </p><p>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</p><p> </p><p>Walking down the medical bay, Dark Meta Knight was ready to swing at Galacta Knight the mere second they made one wrong move. Dark Meta wasn’t in full support of Galacta Knight joining their ranks, but, well, he joined their ranks which is a miracle in itself, he can’t complain. The medical bay looked state of the art, Dark Meta wondered why Taranza would need all this, if it was just him working here. Once the three knights entered, the door closed shut behind them, and into the ring teleported King D-Mind.</p><p> </p><p>“<b>Hmph</b> ,” the King huffed, “ <b>Three knights, this is the part where you bow to your king</b>.”</p><p> </p><p>“I bow to King Dedede,” Meta Knight responded, drawing Galaxia.</p><p> </p><p>“I bow to no one,” Dark Meta Knight snapped, drawing Dark Galaxia.</p><p> </p><p>“I bow to fate itself,” Galacta solemnly replied, drawing their lance.</p><p> </p><p>“<b>Well, let’s hope your rulers have an open graveyard</b>,” D-Mind spoke, dashing at the knights, Dark and Meta teleported behind him, slashing at his back, while Galacta parried, slashing at him head-on. Galacta narrowed their eyes, something about this freak seemed familiar, ignoring that, Galacta flew up and tried an aerial approach, but D-Mind grabbed their leg and chucked them at the wall. D-Mind threw his hammer at Galacta, but Dark kicked it before the impact, D-Mind recalled his hammer and clashed with Dark.</p><p> </p><p>“Tyrant scum.”</p><p> </p><p>“<b>Anti-Hero pest</b>.”</p><p> </p><p>Meta broke up the scuffle by cutting D-Mind’s hammer in half, the tyrant looked at his broken weapon and threw it to the side, pulling out a halberd. D-Mind struck the ground, cracking it, and knocking Dark off his feet, the king attempted to go in for the kill, but Galacta knocked him back.</p><p> </p><p>“I know you,” Galacta growled, realizing their enemy, “you’re made up of Nightmare.”</p><p> </p><p>“<b>Nightmare is half of the puzzle you gnat, Shadow Dedede makes for a good host-</b>” D-Mind was cut off by Meta slashing at his torso, knocking him down.</p><p> </p><p>“That one’s for being an enemy of the Gamble Galaxy.”</p><p> </p><p>Dark Meta Knight slashed him back more, at his face this time, scarring the tyrant, “That one’s for hurting Shadow Kirby.”</p><p> </p><p>Galacta flew above the king, “And this one’s just because you’re part Nightmare,” Galacta dove down, D-Mind held his hand out to stop Galacta, but all that did was embed Galacta’s lance into both D-Mind’s hand and skull. Turning to white, D-Mind disappeared, leaving a key, and Galacta’s lance, on the ground.</p><p> </p><p>“Well that escalated quickly,” Dark Meta commented, sheathing Dark Galaxia, “impressive swordplay Galacta, we should spar sometime.”</p><p> </p><p>“I could see something to gain from that.”</p><p> </p><p>“Please do not spar, the resulting fight due to your tempers would destroy planets,” Meta responded, picking up the key and walking back down the hall.</p><p> </p><p>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</p><p> </p><p>Taranza paced back and force, this was it, they got all the keys, they’re gonna fight him now. Taranza picked up the Time Breaker and cast an indestructibility spell on the orb, just so it wouldn’t break in the scuffle. Taranza turned to face the door, hearing the final lock open.</p><p> </p><p>It’s showtime.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I'm sure you all can see where this is going :)</p><p>Also I am so goddamn pissed, on the google doc I'm writing this on I took special care to make Dark Crafter's dialogue change color letter by letter in order of the color wheel, but NoOoOoO aRcHiVe CaN't HaNdLe CoLoR</p><p>That's 20 minutes I'm never getting back.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0010"><h2>10. Good Things Come To An End</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The final brawl, Taranza is going to succeed, can the Star Allies save their former ally? Or will their time run out.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>MAJOR TRIGGER WARNING NEAR THE END.</p><p>A CHARACTER ATTEMPTS SUICIDE, I MARKED IT WITH ASTERISKS (*) SO YOU KNOW WHERE IT STARTS AND ENDS</p><p>With that out of the way, It'sDoneIt'sDoneIt'sDoneIt'sDoneIt'sDoneIt'sDoneIt'sDoneIt'sDoneIt'sDoneIt'sDoneIt'sDoneIt'sDone</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Dedede forced the door open, revealing a rather small room, in front of a pedestal stood Taranza, holding the Time Breaker in one of his hands.</p><p> </p><p>“Welcome, welcome, I would say make yourself at home, but we all know that isn’t going to happen,” the spider spoke.</p><p> </p><p>“Taranza?” Zan started, getting Taranza’s attention.</p><p> </p><p>Taranza took a second to compose himself, then looked at Zan, “Yes?”</p><p> </p><p>Zan floated towards the spider, “Please, I’m begging you, give up, we don’t wanna fight  you.”</p><p> </p><p>“And I don’t want to fight you,” Taranza responded, “but we don’t always get what we want do we?”</p><p> </p><p>Zan reached over and grabbed Taranza’s coat, pulling him closer, and kissed him, Taranza briefly returned the kiss before pulling away, seeing tears in Zan’s eyes. Zan pulled out a small black box and opened it, revealing an engagement ring, Taranza reached for the box…</p><p> </p><p>And closed it.</p><p> </p><p>“Marry someone who deserves it,” Taranza said, turning around, creating a barrier behind him.</p><p> </p><p>“I- But-”</p><p> </p><p>“‘But you do deserve it!’ no I don’t,” Taranza said.</p><p> </p><p>“You’re right, you don’t, you piece of sub-spider shit,” Galacta snapped.</p><p> </p><p>“Oh, and you’re a beacon of kindness Galacta? Y’know, all those innocent people you murdered back then are probably perfectly fine,” Taranza sarcastically replied, “no wonder Morpho hates you.”</p><p> </p><p>“Okay, there’s no need for any of that Galacta,” Susie said, lightly pushing Galacta back, “Taranza, listen, we can all look past it, just give up.”</p><p> </p><p>Taranza stared at Susie, and narrowed his eyes, “If Zan can’t get me to yield, what chance do you have?”</p><p> </p><p>Susie narrowed her eyes at Taranza, “What’s <em> that </em> supposed to mean?”</p><p> </p><p>“Y’know, Zan is my girlfriend, you are not, her opinion goes above yours, to me at least,” Taranza explained.</p><p> </p><p>Susie glared at Taranza, “If she wasn’t your girlfriend would you listen to me?”</p><p> </p><p>Taranza stayed silent for a second, “...No.”</p><p> </p><p>Susie pulled out her laser pistol, “And why is that?”</p><p> </p><p>“5,239, that number ring a bell?”</p><p> </p><p>Susie looked at the floor, 5,239, that’s the number of planets she genocided, Susie pulled herself together and looked at Taranza, “That’s a low blow and you fucking know it.”</p><p> </p><p>“Taranza, stop,” Francisca ordered, pulling out her battle axe, “I think you’ve said enough now.”</p><p> </p><p>“No, no I don’t think I have,” Taranza snapped, glaring at the ice mage, “and who are you to judge me? Hm? The mage who murdered people then put their bodies on display? Yeah, quit talking like you have any right to judge others' morality.”</p><p> </p><p>“What the hell has gotten into you Taranza?” Magolor asked, staring at his former ally.</p><p> </p><p>“Y’know Magolor, I don’t remember fucking asking for your input, but I guess that’s just your nature to inject yourself into situations where you’re not needed,” Taranza spoke, glaring at the wizard.</p><p> </p><p>“Okay, Taranza, we get it, you’re angsty now, calm down,” Marx said, giving a confused look to the spider.</p><p> </p><p>“Marx, shut up, you’re not funny, you’ve never been funny, you’re just annoying,” Taranza angrily replied, giving a death stare to the noddy.</p><p> </p><p>“Alright, Taranza, stop, you’re being unnecessarily cruel,” Daroach snapped, pointing a cane at his former(?) best friend.</p><p> </p><p>Taranza glared at Daroach, then looked at each and every one of his former allies, “Nothing but a bunch of egocentric nuisances,” he muttered, activating the Time Breaker, “I am going to get this done-”</p><p> </p><p>“No you’re not, Taranza,” Meta Knight cut off, drawing Galaxia, “you know that.”</p><p> </p><p>Taranza glared at the knight, “There is no timeline, no version of these events, where you all win, I would know, I’ve checked.” Taranza put all of his hands on the Time Breaker, “I am going to win.”</p><p> </p><p>The Time Breaker began powering up, “And none of you-”</p><p> </p><p>Taranza aimed the Time Breaker at his former friends, “can <b>FUCKING-</b>”</p><p> </p><p>“Guys, move,” Flamberge warned, seeing what  was about to happen.</p><p> </p><p>“<b>STOP ME!</b>”</p><p> </p><p>Taranza fired the Time Breaker at the Star Allies.</p><p> </p><p>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</p><p> </p><p>Flamberge pushed her sisters out of the way, Magolor grabbed Susie and teleported to the side, Meta Knight grabbed Kirby and teleported away, Daroach dashed to the side.</p><p> </p><p>Everyone else wasn’t so lucky.</p><p> </p><p>A barrier of time froze the remaining Allies in place, Susie looked at the time bubble.</p><p> </p><p>“What the FUCK did you just do?” she asked.</p><p> </p><p>“They’re alive, don’t worry,” Taranza dismissively explained. Meta and Kirby reappeared a little behind Taranza, he didn’t notice, Kirby saw the Time copy ability on the table and absorbed it. Taranza heard the inhale and turned around, Meta dashed at Taranza, attempting to kick him down, Taranza ensnared Meta Knight in a web and threw him on the other side of the room. Turning back to face Kirby, Taranza shot a rewind blast at the puffball, who ducked under the attack, the table behind Kirby turned back into a sapling. Magolor attempted to take advantage of the distracted spider with an electric blast, but Taranza teleported away and threw Magolor into Susie.</p><p> </p><p>“Since when have you been able to teleport?” Magolor asked, getting off the ground.</p><p> </p><p>“I’ve had a lot of time to myself,” Taranza explained. Flamberge shot a fireball at the spider, who dodged, shot a web at the fireball, caught it, and threw it back at Flamberge. Flamberge caught and reabsorbed to fireball.</p><p> </p><p>“6 years of building up friendships, and you tear them all down for Sectonia, why?” Flamberge asked.</p><p> </p><p>Taranza glared at the mage, “Why do you think? I’m undoing an event that never should’ve happened in the first place.”</p><p> </p><p>“Yeah, sure, but you’ve kidnapped people and broken time to do that!” Susie yelled.</p><p> </p><p>“This is the first time I’m getting what I truly want and fucking <em> deserve </em> , I don’t care what lengths I have to go to, <b>I’M BRINGING HER BACK!</b>” Taranza yelled, shooting webbing at Susie, who shot it out of the air. Meta Knight appeared behind Taranza and attempted to hit him, but was caught out of the air and thrown at Flamberge, knocking her down. Kirby ran in and tried to challenge Taranza using time, but Taranza caught him and threw him, Kirby anchored himself and dashed at Taranza, trying to hit him with the cane. When that didn’t work, Kirby dodged back and shot projectiles at Taranza, who met all of them with his own from the Time Breaker. Francisca finally got off the ground and charged her water gun, when it was ready, she released it, Taranza saw the water about to hit him and blasted it with the rewind blast, causing all the water to go back into the gun. Francisca glared a thim and drew her axe, Zan solemnly looked at him and drew her spear, Flamberge joined them with her sword. All at once, the sisters dashed at Taranza, Taranza grabbed Francisca’s axe with two of his hands and moved it into Flamberge’s face, knocking the fire mage down. Then, he trapped Francisca in a webbing cage and threw her against the wall, Zan activated her thunderdrums and flew above Taranza, firing down at him, Taranza dodged and grabbed Francisca’s water gun, and fired it at Zan, electrocuting her.</p><p> </p><p>“Behind you,” Daroach said, causing Taranza to turn around, Daroach dropped down from the rafters where Taranza was formerly looking, “still behind you.” Daroach grabbed Taranza and threw him against the wall, firing an ice beam at him as well, Taranza teleported away and fired a blast from the Time Breaker, Daroach dodged and kicked Taranza in the gut, causing him to turn and fall. Taranza coughed up a bit of blood, this was getting real bad, he wasn’t really meant for fighting, but he only needed to stall for a few more minutes. Daroach saw his former friend struggle and reached over to help him up, Taranza looked at Daroach and slapped his hand away, getting up himself. Taranza grabbed Kirby, who was trying to flank him, and threw him into Daroach, knocking him down.</p><p> </p><p>“It was always about you all,” Taranza spoke, “always your problems, you were always the important ones, never me,” Taranza activated the Time Breaker and summoned a new, familiar, “Sectonia left me her staff in her will, feels poetic to use it to bring her back.”</p><p> </p><p>Daroach tried to respond, “Taranza, we do care about you-”</p><p> </p><p>“No you fucking don’t, you’ll forget about this excursion in a month, I’ll be just another villain you fought,” Taranza growled, shooting a laser from the staff.</p><p> </p><p>“I have no damn clue where you got that idea, Taranza, we want to see you succeed, we want to see you happy, but we can’t allow this to continue,” Daroach replied.</p><p> </p><p>“Why?”</p><p> </p><p>“Because you’ve gone too far.”</p><p> </p><p>Kirby seized the opportunity and charged his ability, by the time Taranza noticed, it was too late, time was frozen. Kirby looked around, seeing everyone perfectly still, he walked over and took the orb out of Taranza’s hands, putting it on a nearby shelf, he then positioned Magolor and Daroach to be holding Taranza  in place, then unfroze time.</p><p> </p><p>“What the hell just happened?” Daroach asked.</p><p> </p><p>“Poyo!”</p><p> </p><p>“That explains it.”</p><p> </p><p>Susie walked towards Taranza and glared at him, then pointed to the bubble that froze their friends, “Undo it. Now.”</p><p> </p><p>“I need the Time Breaker for that.”</p><p> </p><p>“Like hell you do, fix it Taranza.”</p><p> </p><p>“Susie, the only way to fix it is to let me have the Time Breaker, or kill me,” Taranza explained, glaring at Susie.</p><p> </p><p>Susie stared at Taranza, then pointed her gun at his forehead, shaking.</p><p> </p><p>“Go on, do it,” Taranza spoke.</p><p> </p><p>Susie stared at the spider, ready to pull the trigger…</p><p> </p><p>Then she put the gun back in her pocket.</p><p> </p><p>“W-what?” Taranza asked, confused.</p><p> </p><p>“I don’t know what’s gotten into you Taranza, but I refuse to believe my friend is gone, call it foolish, but I don’t want to see you suffer,” Susie explained.</p><p> </p><p>“N-No,”  Taranza replied, fearful.</p><p> </p><p>“What do you mean no? I’m trying to-”</p><p> </p><p>“That’s not how it was supposed to happen.”</p><p> </p><p>“What do you mean?</p><p> </p><p>“I-I, y-you-”</p><p> </p><p>“H-hey, Taranza, you okay?” Zan asked.</p><p> </p><p>Taranza looked at the people around him, “Y-you were supposed to KILL ME!” he shouted, blasting everyone away from him and teleporting over to a door in the back, and slammed it.</p><p> </p><p>**************************************************************************************************************************************************</p><p> </p><p>Taranza scavenged the drawers and shelves, he couldn’t remember where he kept the knife, hearing the others try to open the door, he webbed it shut. Going back to his search, Taranza began to cry.</p><p> </p><p>“C’mon, c’mon where is it!?”</p><p> </p><p>Daroach leaned down to try and pick the lock, Flamberge shoved him to the side and cut the doorknob off.</p><p> </p><p>“Show off,” he muttered.</p><p> </p><p>In his search Taranza accidentally knocked a shelf down, hitting his head, “F-Fuck,” he muttered, picking himself back up, he found the knife. Taranza grabbed it and was about to stab into his heart… but then he saw the time.</p><p> </p><p>12:07 AM.</p><p> </p><p>========================================================================================</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> After a brief pause, t̶h̶e̶ ̶v̶i̶l̶l̶a̶i̶n Taranza looked up and asked, “What if I give my life for it!?” </em>
</p><p> <em>Morpho paused, turned around, and said, “If you have yourself killed before the end of the day, I will finish this for you.”</em></p><p> <em>“Deal.”</em></p><p>========================================================================================</p><p> </p><p>Taranza fell to the ground, sobbing, it was too late, he failed, Morpho wouldn’t bring back Sectonia now, and he lost all his friends. Taranza inspected the knife in his hands, he’s lost everything… what does he have to live for? Taranza held the knife in front of him, ready to stab into his heart and end his own life…</p><p> </p><p>Then he was hit with a bolt of lightning.</p><p> </p><p>Zan looked at the shaking, crying man in front of her, looking over to the others, she gestured for them to leave the room for a bit. They all nodded and left the room, closing the door behind them, Zan floated over and sat down next to Taranza, throwing the knife away from both of them, and moving Taranza into her arms to cry. Taranza tried to push away from her, but didn’t have the energy, and was moved into a hug with his girlfriend.</p><p> </p><p>“Taranza?”</p><p> </p><p>“Y-Yeah?”</p><p> </p><p>Zan ran her hand through Taranza’s hair, “What… what was your full plan?”</p><p> </p><p>Taranza sobbed, “M-My plan was, t-t-to get the Time Breaker, a-and bring S-Sectonia back, Morpho w-wouldn’t let me, s-so we agreed that if I d-die, she gets to come back.”</p><p> </p><p>Zan shook her head and comforted Taranza, “Taranza... I don’t really know what to say other than… why? Why agree to that?”</p><p> </p><p>“B-Because I should’ve been the one to die back then.”</p><p> </p><p>“I- ...What?”</p><p> </p><p>“It was my mistake, I’m the one who messed up, why did Sectonia have to die and not me? S-She didn’t do anything wrong,” Taranza sobbed.</p><p> </p><p>“Oh Taranza… that’s… not healthy, you shouldn’t think of it like that,” Zan started, “it’s something called survivor’s guilt.”</p><p> </p><p>“I know what survivor’s guilt is, b-but I <em> killed </em> her.”</p><p> </p><p>“You didn’t know what would happen, and you did what needed to be done, I’m sure Sectonia would’ve rather passed on then continue to suffer,” Zan explained, “Taranza… I need you to answer a question.”</p><p> </p><p>“Y-yeah?”</p><p> </p><p>“Did… did you really mean what you said back there? About how Susie, Magolor, and all them were evil?”</p><p> </p><p>“Of course I didn’t,” Taranza groaned, “I only said that so they would be willing to kill me, but it was all for nothing, now I just made all my friends hate me, please, just let me die.”</p><p> </p><p>Zan brought Taranza in closer “It’s going to be okay, I promise.”</p><p> </p><p>**************************************************************************************************************************************************</p><p> </p><p>Kirby flip-kicked D-Mind into the air and Dedede knocked him downwards, subduing the villain.</p><p> </p><p>“What a spectacle! The champions have defeated the penultimate challenge! But can they beat the final boss? Stick around to find out!” the announcer yelled.</p><p> </p><p>“I hate them so much,” Bandana commented, looking at the announcer booth.</p><p> </p><p>“They make the True Arena so much worse,” Meta added, walking back to the break area. Kirby grabbed the last soda provided and split it between the four of them, Bandana opened the chest and got the treasure they get for making it this far. Once they were all ready they walked back out to the True Arena, when they entered, the area turned into a more cosmic setting, with the background turning into galaxies, and the platform they were standing on was made from some kind of indestructible blue glass. Then, they heard their final challenger appear, turning to see him, he wore a blue suit with a white spider web pattern, his horns were black, and his hair was white. The team looked at what they were about to fight, they knew he was coming, that doesn’t mean they didn’t dread it.</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Taranza SOUL.</b>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Whatever happened to Taranza at the end is fully up to you, did he live? I don't know, what do you think?</p><p>Also, bonus points if you noticed the theme with the titles</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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